Gairo Erumu
by jennamarie
Summary: A new evil has entered Japan and it is up to the Shinigami to stop it. YamiXnonanime. Don't fall asleep...Chapter 20
1. Chapter 1

Okay, first thing. This fic is rated M for a reason! If you are not over eighteen, please, don't read any farther. I know I can't stop anyone, but I can hope that everyone exercises their maturity and common sense.

I am giving in. This chapter has been done for over a month and I have been waiting patiently, but my other fics don't seem to want to end, so I'm starting this one anyway!

Gairo Erumu, roughly translated means Elm Street. That's right boy and girls; Freddy Kruger is going to pay a visit to the YnM universe. This is still basically a YnM fic, I just want to try a new villain on for size!

I have been making some corrections, hopefully now I've got Wakaba's name right!

Disclaimer: Standard, I own neither Yami, the characters nor Freddy Kruger. Please don't sue me!

And of course, any responses are welcome and appreciated. Flamers will receive raspberries.

_**GAIRO ERUMU**_

**Chapter 1**

Tatsumi looked at the four Shinigami who faced him across his desk. Terazuma and Tsuzuki kept shooting each other nasty sidelong glances while their respective partners sat quietly.

Tatsumi sighed and picked up a very thick folder. "Tsuzuki, Terazuma, Kurosaki and Kannuki." He nodded to each in turn. The four of you are being assigned to a case together."

"I have to work with him?" Tsuzuki asked incredulously, looking at Terazuma as if the man were something he found on the bottom of his shoe.

Terazuma looked even less enthused, growling low in his throat but he refrained from commenting.

Hisoka passed a look with Wakaba. "Looks like this case is going to be a lot of fun." He said mildly.

"If I could have your attention." Tatsumi set the file down on his desk. "A malevolent ghost has entered Japan, it came from the United States, and while we don't know how it managed to get here, it is imperative that we deal with it right away."

"Why?" Asked Terazuma. "If it's just a ghost…"

"This ghost is extremely powerful and very dangerous. The foreign offices sent us quite a lot of information on him."

"If they have so much information on this ghost, then why haven't they done something about it already?" Hisoka asked.

"Apparently they've tried." Tatsumi adjusted his glasses. "But for decades they have been unsuccessful. Most of their operatives are unable to locate him, and the people they've sent who could find him were killed. This ghost gains power by absorbing the souls of his victims and according to this file, he's had a lot of victims."

Tsuzuki blanched. "And they haven't found a way to stop it?"

"No." Tatsumi told him. "It seems that adults, for the most part cannot see or sense this ghost, although there are records of this ghost killing adults on occasion, for the most part his victims are teenagers."

For a moment Tsuzuki and Terazuma shared a look of complete understanding in their concern for their partners.

"Kurosaki-kun, Wakaba-san," Tatsumi gave each of them a pointed look, "You two are the ones who are going to have to find this ghost, Your partners will mainly be there for back-up."

They both nodded. "So where is it?" Hisoka asked.

Tatsumi sighed. "We don't know, but according to the foreign office finding it won't be too difficult. All we have to do is wait for the deaths to start."

**XXX**

Hontura Kya was dreaming.

She knew she was dreaming because she would never have gone outside in her nightgown if she was awake, but here she was standing in the middle of her street, bare feet on the cold concrete. The familiar surroundings seemed odd to her, as if the ground itself was admitting a faint light causing all the shadows to stretch upwards, distorted.

_Like when you hold a flashlight under your face to scare your friends… _

The effect was unnerving, and Kya wrapped her arms around herself trying to ward off a chill, she was shivering.

Suddenly she thought she heard someone chuckle behind her. She whipped around but there was no one there, only a bank of fog that rolled down the street towards her. The fog swirled around and over her, the moisture making her skin cold and clammy.

A flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and she turned towards it. As she watched a dark silhouette formed in the fog.

The figure slowly advanced towards her and she began to back away in response.

Kya was afraid.

"Who are you?" She called out, trying to put more distance between her and the menacing figure, never taking her eyes off it.

"jeiuif akldsjfi a;lksej ;ixias!"

Kya stopped dead, confusion replacing some of the fear. "What?"

The figure held up its right hand, showing long blades that extended from each of its fingers.

THAT she understood. Kya turned and ran.

A quick glance over her shoulder told her that the figure was not giving chase and she slowed slightly. Looking back again she saw the figure draw back his arm and fling it forward. Suddenly she found herself surrounded by thin wires that wrapped around her body. Following them with her eyes, she saw that they traveled back to the dark figure.

He pulled his hand back she felt the wires around her tighten.

Kya whimpered.

He drew his hand back even farther and she felt the wires digging into her skin, drawing blood. "Please! Don't!" Franticly Kya shook her head.

The figure nodded and pulled hard on the wires.

Kya screamed as the wire sliced through her.

The figure sighed with twisted pleasure and a demented grin spread across a scarred and burned face as he absorbed the terrified girl's soul into himself.

Looking down at the remains of the body, he pulled small English to Japanese dictionary out of a back pocket and began to fan through the pages, eyes paging back and forth with inhuman speed. After a few moments he reached the end of the book and tossed it over his shoulder.

"Well, that takes care of that" He said to himself in a grating voice, "It'll be much easier to scare them if they understand what I'm saying!"

**XXX**

Tsuzuki looked through the pictures that were in the thick file, tight lipped. The pictures were graphic and bloody to a one, and Tsuzuki was beginning to feel decidedly ill going through them.

"Don't look at them if they disturb you that much." Hisoka told him without looking up from the papers that he was reading through.

Terazuma reached over and snatched the pictures out of Tsuzuki's hands. "Let me see."

Tsuzuki frowned at the possessed Shinigami, but made no attempt to reclaim the pictures.

"Hajime, be nice." His partner scolded him, looking up from her own pile of papers.

Terazuma paled paging through the photographs "I think I did him a favour!" He muttered, putting the pictures down and pushing them away.

"So is there anything there that might help us find him?" Tsuzuki asked Hisoka who was frowning, looking almost as ill as Tsuzuki had felt, without the benefit of the gory pictures.

Hisoka looked up from the papers in front of him. "Not really, this is a life history, and this guy was seriously disturbed. He could give Muraki a run for his money."

"I doubt that."

"Oh yeah, just listen." Hisoka paged through the papers until he found the one he wanted. "It says here that his mother was a nun who suffered repeated rapes by the residents of an insane asylum after she was accidentally locked in over a weekend. She died in childbirth, and the child, a boy, was sent to an orphanage. He spent some time in various foster homes but was always returned for violent behaviour. There are reports here of him torturing small animals, threatening and attacking people for no reason, there's even one report here of him maiming a younger child at one of the foster homes he stayed at, it says here that he cut off all her fingers. There are a few reports here of him being abused as well, but for some reason, those seemed to be the homes he stayed in longest."

Hisoka paused, flipping through the pages and pulling out another. "He dropped out of high school, got married, and he and his wife had a daughter. Everything seemed fine for several years, then in an altercation with his wife he killed her, and it was when the police were investigating his wife's death they discovered that he was guilty for a string of child disappearances and brutal murders. His daughter was taken to protective services and he was arrested and put on trial, but because someone wasn't paying attention somewhere along the line he got released on a technicality."

By now Hisoka had everyone's full attention

"The parents in the neighbourhood were furious that he was let go, so they all got together and tracked him to an abandoned factory. They trapped him inside and set the place on fire, killing him."

Wakaba picked up where Hisoka left off. "After he died, his soul didn't arrive for judgement, and the foreign offices immediately investigated, by they could find no trace of him, until a few years later when teenagers started dying mysterious and violent deaths on the street where he had lived, but before they could find him, he disappeared again."

Wakaba fanned through the stack of papers she held. "Every time has been like that. His presence would be announced by a string of gruesome deaths, but he would either be defeated by the teenagers he was trying to kill, or he would simply disappear. And even when they got close to catching him they could see him anyway." She looked at Hisoka. "I get the impression that they don't have too may teenage shinigami in the American offices."

Hisoka held out a paper to her. "Not anymore."

Wakaba took the paper and her eyes widened as she skimmed it over "Ohhhh!"

"What?" Tsuzuki and Terazuma asked in unison, stopping for a moment to glare at each other.

"There were three Shinigami in the American offices who managed to get close enough to this ghost to have contact with it. One was seventeen, the other two were eighteen. All three were killed. Before he died, one of them told his superior that the ghost was attacking him in his dreams." Wakaba turned to Hisoka. "I guess it's the physical age that matters to this ghost, 'cause one of those three had been a shinigami for…" She looked at the paper in her hand. "Close to forty years."

Hisoka nodded. "Not very reassuring is it?"

"So does this asshole have a name?" Terazuma growled.

Hisoka nodded again and shuffled through the papers. "Right here…his name is Fred Kruger."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The hallway of Kugutsu High School bustled with the early morning activities of students getting ready for their first classes. Shouts and catcalls echoed, mingling with laughter and cheerful greetings.

To Tanaka Aya the whole atmosphere of the building seemed wrong. After the long night she had spent tossing and turning, lost in strange nightmares, the normal morning routine wore on her nerves. The happy voices and bright colours seemed garish and fake.

Heaving a sigh and hiking her book bag higher up on her shoulder, Aya looked around the throng of teenagers for her best friend. Yui would understand that she was in a bad mood and Yui would listen to her complain.

Finally Aya spotted Yui at the end of the hall with a group of girls, they all seemed to be talking in hushed voices. Aya hurried over and tapped Yui on the back. Yui turned around.

"Hey! There you are! I've been looking for you all morning!" Yui gave her friend a quick hug. "You've got to hear this, it's the weirdest thing."

"…and he reached for me. I ran as fast as I could. He was really scary!" One of the girls was saying, several others nodding in agreement.

"I dreamt about him too." Stated another girl. "But in my dream he knocked me down, and when I landed the ground had turned into something sticky and gross, like fly paper, and I couldn't get up again." She shuttered.

"Who did you dream about?" Aya asked, suddenly feeling extremely tense.

"The scary man with the knives on his hands." Yui told her. "We all dreamt about him last night."

"Hey! Are you talking about the claw guy?" Asked a boy who had been passing by, Aya recognized him from her history class.

"Yeah, why?" Yui asked.

"Cause some of the guys were saying they had bad dreams about a guy with claws last night." The boy, Aya thought his name was Tomo, told them.

"Wow, what are the chances of so many people having the same dream?" Yui asked rhetorically. "What about you Aya?"

Aya nodded. "I dreamt about him too."

**XXX**

The Shinigami foursome found themselves the next morning, back in the same office that they had been in the day before, picking up where they had left off. Once again going through the huge file hoping to find anything that would give them any idea where to begin their search for the violent spirit.

After several more hours of turning up nothing, tempers were becoming a little frayed, except for Wakaba, who had taken to playing mediator to the minor disputes that were beginning to arise.

Terazuma was seriously beginning to chafe under the inactivity. "We could just go down to Chijou and start looking for him, a ghost that strong must give off some powerful emissions."

Hisoka scowled. "That's great Terazuma-san, where would you like to start? Tohoku, Kansai, Kyushu, or perhaps you'd like to start with Okinawa? Face it, we don't even know what region he's in, we'd have a better chance of getting struck by lightening on a sunny day than finding him in a blind search."

Tsuzuki snickered.

Terazuma shot him an evil glare. "We could split up." He tried.

Hisoka gave him an incredulous look and Wakaba shook her head.

"No Hajime, we really need to stick together. This ghost has already killed three shinigami, and you know what they say about strength in numbers."

Terazuma mumbled a non-committal reply and slouched down in his seat.

Tatsumi stepped into the room silently and cleared his throat, causing the occupants to jump, startled.

Hisoka and Wakaba recovered themselves quickly as Terazuma picked himself up off the floor.

"What is it Tatsumi-san?" Hisoka asked.

Tatsumi held out a new file that the youth took. "We've had an unexplained death where the soul has failed to appear for judgement. The girl's name was Hontura Kya. Apparently she died in her sleep but her body was badly mangled. The police suspect foul play but there are no signs of forced entry or a struggle."

Hisoka nodded and exchanged a look with Wakaba. "That sounds like this ghost. We should go check it out."

Tatsumi looked worried, that in turn worried both Tsuzuki and Terazuma.

"Be very careful Kurosaki-kun, Wakaba-kun, we'd hate to see anything happen to either of you." Tatsumi turned to leave the room but turned back momentarily to look at the two older Shinigami. "Take care of your partners."

Terazuma and Tsuzuki both nodded gravely.

Hisoka was already paging through the new file, reading papers which he passed to Wakaba, who read them in turn.

"This is horrible!" Wakaba understated, looking a little green.

Hisoka nodded in agreement, his face grim, his mouth held in a tight line.

"What is it?" Tsuzuki asked.

Wakaba looked up at him. "This poor girl, her body was torn apart! They found pieces of her all over the bedroom!"

**XXX**

The Shinigami arrived on Chijou shortly after noon having skipped lunch. Even Tsuzuki didn't have much of an appetite after looking through the folder that Tatsumi had given them.

It was decided that Wakaba and Hisoka would be enrolled at the high school that Hotura Kya had attended, after all, Freddy Kruger was a ghost that prayed upon teens. Tsuzuki was brought in as counsellor, which made Hisoka snort in amusement.

With his obvious stripes, pointed ears and red eyes Terazuma couldn't go into the school during the day without attracting too much attention, so he was left to guard the hotel rooms and do research. Terazuma grumbled loudly about the arrangement and acquiesced with ill grace, his partner's offer to cook him a special dinner making the situation only slightly more bearable.

As the trio were leaving for the school, Terazuma caught Tsuzuki by the arm. "You better take care of Kannuki, moron, or I'll make you regret that you ever became a Shinigami."

Terazuma bristled, but Tsuzuki pulled free or his grasp and hurried out the door.

**XXX**

"You're the new girl, aren't you?"

Wakaba looked up from the desk she was sitting at into a pair of warm brown eyes. "Hai. My cousin and I just started today."

The brown eyed girl smiled. "I'm Tagashi Yui, and this is my friend Tanaka Aya.

Wakaba smiled back. "I'm Kannuki Wakaba."

Yui crouched down in front of the desk so that she was level with Wakaba. "We noticed that you were sitting alone, so we thought we'd see if you wanted to have lunch with us."

Aya nodded in agreement.

"Your cousin too, if you'd like." Yui's eyes twinkled. "That's the boy we saw you with earlier, right?"

Wakaba nodded.

"He's cute!"

Wakaba grinned. "Yeah, I know, but I think he's interested in somebody else."

"Aww, that's too bad." But Yui didn't loose her smile. "So, lunch with us?"

"Love to."

"Great!" Yui grabbed her arm, and with her other hand grabbed on to Aya's arm as well, dragging both girls out of the classroom behind her.

Aya gave Wakaba a shy smile as they were dragged in her best friends wake. "Please excuse Yui, she's a force of nature."

Yui dragged the pair outside and stopped under a sugi "This looks like a good place." She declared, dropping to the ground and pulling the other two girls down with her.

Wakaba laughed. "Are you always so enthusiastic?"

"Of course!" Yui ginned, pulling out her lunch. "Life's to short to dawdle!"

**XXX**

Hisoka sat at the edge of the school grounds away from the crowds of students, nursing a headache. He hated posing as a student. Not that he minded the classes, but when you put thirty or more teenagers brimming with hormones in one small room, it was enough to drive the empath crazy.

He could see Wakaba sitting with a couple of girls across the grounds. They had wave to him and gestured for him to join them, but he had shook his head to decline the offer and promptly regretted the motion.

And he hadn't learned anything useful either. That annoyed him. The longer it took them to learn anything, the longer he'd have to come back.

"Hey Kurosaki, come join us!"

Hisoka looked over to where he was being called. There was a group of boys gathered around one who seemed to be telling a story that has the rest spellbound. A boy he'd been introduced to, Tomo, was waving him over.

Hisoka got to his feet and went to join the group. May as well get back to work. He prayed they weren't talking about football.

They weren't.

"…and then he ran those claws along the wall, and man, it made the worst sound. I'm surprised I didn't wake up then!" The speaker was a boy that Hisoka hadn't met. "But I didn't, I picked up my little sister's chair and threw it at him, but he ducked it and kept coming and he was laughing at me!"

"Did you run?" One of the group asked.

"Not then. I backed up until I bumped in to my dad's desk and the creep was still coming, so I started throwing more stuff at him, dad's paperweight, a stapler, some other shit, then I threw a pair of scissors at him. They hit him in the head, right between the eyes and stuck there."

"Did you kill him?" Asked another guy.

"I wish! But he stopped. He looked at me real weird like, what the hell was I doing, then he reached up and pulled the scissors out of his head and grinned at me. That spooked me, but then he licked off the scissor blades! That's when I ran."

There was a collective shudder from the group of boys.

"That's gross!" One exclaimed.

"I can beat it." Called out another and launched into his own story about a man with claws.

Hisoka leaned towards Tomo. "What are they talking about?"

"We're having a contest to see who had the worst dream last night." Tomo told him.

"So why are they both talking about same man?" Hisoka asked.

Tomo shrugged "Because we all dreamt about him last night."

Hisoka looked around the group, his eyes widening.

_Oh shit!_

_--------------------------------------------_

Sugi: Japanese cedar.


	3. Chapter 3

Good morning!

Um…I haven't found much about Wakaba, there's nothing in the anime, and only a little in the magnas. (She's a Miko, she has one orange eye and one brown one, and she has visions, that's about it!) so right about here is where I'm going to start making up a back story for her. Please don't kill me.

So as always, I own nothing but my puppy, or maybe he owns me, I'm not sure!

Enjoy!

**Chapter 3**

The boy, Igkaugra Tomo was dreaming.

He flying over the city, looking down on the lights of the buildings and moving cars that painted a picture he rather enjoyed. It was a dream he'd had many times before, but like each other time he'd dreamt it, it felt new and wonderful.

Until he realized that he was not alone.

Flying above him was a huge dirty red and green bird. It had long sharp talons, and its face…

Its face was vaguely humanoid, with a long hooked nose that curved out to meet a long, upward tilting pointy chin forming a beak of sorts. Nasty black beady eyes regarded him and the revolting bird flew closer to him.

Tomo pulled his arms close to his body trying to streamline himself so he could get more speed, but the filthy wings flapped and the bird kept up to him quite easily.

It sneered at him.

Tomo felt panic stirring inside him as he willed himself to move faster, but the bird reached him and Tomo let out a cry of pain as the long talons dug into the back of his shoulders.

He had never felt anything as vile or foul as those dirty claws digging into his flesh. He struggled desperately to pull away, but the claws were in too deep and he could feel the blood running down his back as the wind rushed past him.

Suddenly he realized that he was going faster.

(Tomo-kun?)

He was going down. The bird was forcing him into a headlong dive and he was picking up speed, the ground approaching at a dizzying rate.

_I'm going to crash!_

(Tomo!)

Suddenly he was sitting up in his bed, taking great gasping breaths of air. His mother's wide brown eyes stared at him worryingly.

"Tomo, are you alright? I heard you yelling. You must have scratched yourself, you're bleeding!"

Tomo swung his legs over the side of the bed fighting off waves of dizziness and nausea. Reaching over his shoulder he winced as he touched one of the wounds on his shoulder.

"Aa, I'm alright Okasan, I just need to go get cleaned up."

"Tomo?"

"It was just a nightmare."

**XXX**

Kannuki Wakaba was dreaming.

She was wandering through a familiar cemetery; the tombstones glowed faintly in the moonlight, her feet following a path she had walked several times before.

Finally she stopped in front of one tombstone and felt tears prickle her eyes as she stared at it.

Kannuki Hirogachi.

"Papa." She whispered softly into the night. "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry."

Wakaba startled at the voice that she had grown up hearing, looking around wildly for the source.

"Papa?"

"You're sorry, all your powers, your visions and you still let me die."

Wakaba raised a hand to her throat as a sob strangled there. She bowed her head as the tears began to flow.

"A powerful Miko, your mother said, but when it really mattered, when your father's life was measured in minutes and seconds, you were powerless."

"Papa, no!"

"Useless."

"Papa, please!" Wakaba fell to her knees in front of the grave. "I'm sorry…sorry…"

There was a shower of earth from the grave and a molted, rotting hand pushed its way into the night, followed by another. The two hands pushed and dragged against the soft earth as the corpse struggled to free itself from its resting place.

Wakaba knelt frozen, shock and horror paralyzing her as the decaying form of her father pulled free from its grave and took a tottering step towards her.

"I'll forgive you Wakaba…" The unsteady corpse advanced, reaching out for her, "I'll forgive you, I've dealt with your kind before. Just give you papa a hug, let him know you're happy to see him… A hug and kiss for your papa."

Wakaba recoiled as the corpse of her father leaned over her, she could smell its fetid breath, see where the rotting skin had pulled away from bone, maggots and other insects squirmed behind empty eye sockets.

Wakaba screamed.

(Kannuki!)

Finally galvanized into action she pulled away from the animated dead thing and turned to run only to have it reach out and grab her by the wrist, jagged nails, _blades? _digging deeply into her skin. She screamed a second time in terror and pain.

(Wakaba! Wake up!)

_Wake up?_

Her eyes widened as she stared at the horrible thing that held her.

_It's a dream!_

It smiled at her.

Wakaba jerked free of its grip, wincing as the action caused the nails, _blades_ to cut deeper into her flesh.

The corpse got to its feet, showing little of the clumsiness it had moved with before, advancing quickly, wiping its dirty, bloody hands on its red and green striped sweater.

Wakaba backed away as she viciously pinched the skin inside her elbow…

…and sat up in her bed.

Wakaba wrapped her arms around herself, her breath sounding harsh in her own ears.

"Are you alright?"

She looked up into the concerned red eyes of her partner.

"H-hajime?"

"Let me see." He commanded, gesturing to her arms.

Looking down Wakaba saw that blood was pouring from her wrist. "Oh my!" She gasped.

The two shinigami watched as the wounds slowly closed. Wakaba laughed lightly, the sound touched slightly by hysteria. "I think I just met our ghost."

**XXX**

Tagashi Yui was dreaming.

She was standing alone in the middle of the high school corridor. The lights buzzed and flickered causing the shadows to jump and lurch around her.

She looked around with wide eyes, every time the lights flicked off her vision was cut off completely, creating a weird strobe effect. A piece of paper blew down the hallway in starts and stops until it landed at her feet. She knelt down and picked it up.

On the paper was a crude stick drawing of a girl standing in front of a big round thing with fire in it. The stick figure had long thin lines sticking out of it and badly drawn drops were falling off it.

Across the top of the paper was a word that looked like it had been written by a three year old.

YUI

And there was an arrow from the name to the stick figure.

Yui's hands began to shake.

Suddenly there was a clatter behind her and shrieked as she jumped, the paper slipping from between her fingers to flutter softly to the floor. Without waiting to see what was coming behind her, Yui took off down the hall as fast as she could.

_Please don't let it be him!_

Yui burst through the door at the end of the hallway and came to a stop. There was a flight of stair before her, leading down.

_There aren't any stairs like this in the school!_

But the sound of approaching footsteps forced her into action and she threw herself down the stairs, only managing to keep upright by her grip on the railing.

The stair ended at a metal catwalk high over a large cavernous room, full of pipes, steam and twisted metal pathways.

_What the? This can't be the school's basement!_

When she turned back, the stairs that she had descended were gone.

Full-blown panic over took her and Yui started running through the labyrinth of metal, steam, and flickering red light. Finally she fell, exhausted before a large broiler, panting for breath.

"Hello little girl."

Yui shrieked and scuttled backwards until she hit a metal grate and couldn't move back any farther. "Stay away!"

The tall scared man laughed and took off his hat with one clawed hand, holding it over his chest in mock sorrow. "Are you afraid of me?"

"Yes!" Yui was practically sobbing in her terror, she pulled herself up and looked around for an escape route, her fingers clinging to the grill behind her. "Don't come any closer!"

"Oh don't worry." Freddy said, smiling evilly. "I won't." He held up a handful of long slender needles, similar to the ones used by an acupuncturist.

The picture of the stick figure flashed in Yui's mind. "Oh no, please…" She shook her head desperately.

Freddy laughed again and threw the entire handful at the screaming girl.

There was an almost comedic look of shook on her face as she took in the needles protruding from her body. Feeling something wet trickle down her nose she raised her eyes, almost crossed them to see the end of one long needle that was embedded in her forehead.

With a last pained wail Yui collapsed and tried to drag herself away from her tormenter. She only managed a few feet before she died.

**XXX**

Tanaka Ami paced her bedroom. After the dream she had had the night before there was no way she was going to sleep. She picked up her tea and took a sip. She decided that it would be a good idea to pick herself up some coffee.

**XXX**

Kurosaki Hisoka sat cross-legged on his bed watching his partner sleep in the bed across from his. He'd been up for a few hours already.

Nightmares were nothing new to the blonde haired youth, and after he had drifted off to sleep he had gone through the full menagerie.

That night under the sakura tree had been the first, and that then melded into the burning heat of Touda's fire, but it was when the nightmares had shifted into the one where Tsuzuki left him, he had woken up in a cold sweat.

No more dreams tonight.

No more sleep.

Hisoka was used to the nightmares and he knew that he could function for quite a while on little to no sleep.

Especially since there was a new and disturbing aspect to his dreams.

Laughter…


	4. Chapter 4

_**GAIRO ERUMU**_

Chapter 4

The four shinigami were seated around a small table in quiet café early the next morning. Tsuzuki, half asleep, having been dragged out of bed by his partner, was proving that he was still able to put away more pastries than the other three combined, even if he wasn't awake enough to taste them.

Hisoka gave the man a disgusted looked before turning back to Wakaba. "Are you sure it was him?"

Wakaba still seemed somewhat shaken from the nightmare that Terazuma had woken her from in the early hours of the morning. "Pretty sure, yeah."

Terazuma placed a fresh cup of tea in front of her, his eyes softer than usual in his concern.

Wakaba picked up the cup and noticing that her hands were shaking put it back on the table. "I don't know how I'll ever get to sleep tonight. You didn't dream about him?"

Hisoka shook his head. "No my dreams were normal, except for…" He trailed off and looked thoughtful. "No," He shook his head again. "I dreamt about other things."

Tsuzuki looked up from his pastries and eyed his partner. "You slept okay, right?"

"Shut up." Hisoka glared at the older man, who eeped and ducked down, returning to his breakfast.

Hisoka drained the last of his coffee as Terazuma checked his watch. "You guys better get going. The moron here," he gestured to Tsuzuki. "Has to be there early."

Tsuzuki glared at his co-worker, but didn't comment. Standing he scooped up several of the remaining pastries, wrapped them in a napkin and tucked them into his pocket for later.

Hisoka and Wakaba also found their way to their feet and headed for the door, Tsuzuki trailed behind them. At the door he turned back and flashed a slightly nasty smirk at Terazuma. "You'll take care of the check, won't you Hajime-chan?" Waving in the face of man's irritated growl, Tsuzuki darted out the door.

**XXX**

The atmosphere in the corridors of Kugutsu High School was subdued. There was none of the laughter or chatter that had rang through the halls the day before. Students were milling around in small groups, talking in hushed voices.

"Did you notice that Hontura-chan was absent yesterday?'

"They found her in pieces…"

Hisoka and Wakaba made their way towards Wakaba's first class listening to the snippets of conversations taking place around them.

"Her family's really torn up…"

"How do you think…?"

"Do you think she dreamed about him?"

"Kruger…"

Wakaba turned to Hisoka at the door of the classroom. "Will I see you at lunch?"

"Aa, I'll meet you outside by the tree where you were sitting yesterday." Hisoka waved as he headed off to his first class.

Wakaba made her way to the desk she had sat at the day before and looked to her left to see Tanaka Aya looking at her with wide eyes full of fear.

"Hontura Kya was absent yesterday, and today we find out that she's dead. Wakaba-chan, have you seen Yui? I haven't seen her at all this morning. I don't want her to be absent today, what if tomorrow she's…she's…" Aya broke off on a sob, putting her hand to her mouth.

Wakaba reached out and grasped the girls other hand, squeezing it tightly, offering what little reassurance she could.

**XXX**

Hisoka went into his first class and made his way to a desk near the back of the room. Taking his seat he noticed that there were a few more empty seats than there had been the day before.

The teacher came into the classroom and his gaze swept over the class, his eyes hooded. With a deep sigh, the man opened a text book and began to lecture the class on modern imperialism. Immediately the majority of students sank into boredom.

Hisoka sighed and rested his head on his folded arms, he'd done the student thing too many times, and had heard this lecture before, or at least several variations of it. With his head resting on his desk he let his senses expand and spread. He could feel confusion, fear, and sorrow in a hundred different forms from the students of the school, and approaching the classroom he could feel a deep coldness, a darkness that felt like…

Hisoka's head shot up and he focused his attention on the door. After a few minutes a familiar figure appeared in the doorway.

"Muraki!"

Shooting to his feet, Hisoka began to back away from the doctor who was the embodiment of evil to him, but hands grabbed at him from all sides.

"Where are you going Kurosaki-kun?" Asked one of his classmates, holding tightly to his sleeve.

"Yes Hisoka-kun, Muraki-sensei wants to see you!" Another told him, blocking his retreat.

"Let me go!" Hisoka cried, trying to pull loose from the hands of the teenagers that restricted his movements.

Muraki walked into the room and calmly made his way to Hisoka, who was struggling vainly to break free of the imprisoning hands.

"Hello boy."

The familiar voice sent shivers down Hisoka's spine and he froze. The doctor reached out for him and cupping one pale hand around the back of Hisoka's neck, drew him close, until their cheeks touched and Muraki's smooth voice sounded in his ear.

"Can you imagine what I'm going to do to you?"

Hisoka could feel the man smiling, but the familiar sense of Muraki had faded away at the close contact. The darkness remained and evil radiated from this being in sickening waves, but it no longer felt like the doctor. The hand on the back of his neck tightened painfully as the thing with Muraki's voice continued to taunt him.

"Our first meeting under the sakura will seem like a day at the park in comparison."

Quelching down his fear and an overpowering sense of disgust he managed to find his voice. "Who or what are you?"

"Don't you recognize me boy?" The man asked drawing back.

"You are not Muraki, you can't fool me that easily." Hisoka growled before crying out in pain. The hands that held him had suddenly dug into his arms and shoulders, dug through his flesh. Once again Hisoka tried to tear himself free, but the fingers piercing him held him fast and the attempt sent jolts of fresh agony singing up his arms.

The man in front of him shrugged. "Oh well, white was never my colour anyway." The voice changed from Muraki's smooth one to one that was hoarse and gritty.

Hisoka looked at him closely. He no longer looked like Muraki, in fact, he barely looked like anything that could be described as human. This had to be Kruger. What skin Hisoka could see was completely scarred and distorted by burns. The man's features were twisted and in places the skin was totally pulled away revealing the raw looking flesh beneath it.

Stepping forward again the man grabbed a handful of his hair and jerked his head back. Hisoka met the coal black, glittering eyes.

"I know what you are, I've dealt with your kind before, and I saw your dreams boy, you have enough fear, anger and spiritual energy to feed me for a long time." Freddy opened his mouth and his mouth and his tongue emerged, snakelike, impossibly long and twisting like a living creature, seeking.

Hisoka grit his teeth it stoked up his cheek and across his forehead before withdrawing.

"You taste sweet boy." Freddy grinned, releasing his grip on Hisoka's hair.

Hisoka sagged forward, gagging.

"Now it's time to really play." Freddy raised his hand and displayed the blades he wore.

Hisoka looked up and…

And a stinging pain erupted across his left cheek…

And he gasped, opening his eyes to see the teachers' partly concerned, partly angry face above him.

"Kurosaki! How dare you sleep in my class!"

Hisoka jerked out of the teachers' grasp and got to his feet a little unsteadily. The dark sleeves of the school jacket hid the injuries on his arms and shoulders, but he knew if he looked down he would see the blood dripping off his hands.

"Infirmary…" Was all he managed to utter before he was running out of the room, towards the only sense of comfort he had been granted in his existence.

"Tsuzuki…"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 **

The office that Tsuzuki had been assigned was small and cramped but had one nice feature, a large window with a window seat that was presently occupied by his partner. Hisoka sat curled up on the seat, gazing out the window at the school grounds, his arms held close to his body as his shinigami healing powers finished closing the wounds that decorated his arms and shoulders. His jacket was draped across the back of Tsuzuki's chair and the sleeves of his white dress shirt were stained red from the shoulder to wrist.

Tsuzuki watched his partner closely. He had been more than a little surprised when Hisoka had burst into the office without knocking, but the sight of Hisoka's hands coated with blood, like slick red gloves, the surprise had become immediate concern.

Although Hisoka wouldn't go into detail, he told Tsuzuki enough for the older man to realize the injuries had occurred _in a dream._

"You mean they carried out when you woke up?" Tsuzuki asked, his eyes wide.

"Aa." Hisoka had nodded as he had made his way to the window seat…

"Tsuzuki."

Tsuzuki snapped back to the present. "Nani?"

"We need a list of all the students who are absent today, can you get that from the school?"

Tsuzuki thought for a moment, and then nodded. "It shouldn't be too hard, what do you want it for?"

"There seem to be a lot more students absent than usual. We need to find out if they are legitimate absences, or if Kruger has claimed victims that we don't know about yet."

Tsuzuki's lips pulled into a grim line. "Alright, I get a hold of a list of absences and sent it to Terazuma, he can start checking it out."

"Get it now." Hisoka said getting to his feet. "I'll take it to him, I've got to go back to the hotel and change anyway."

Tsuzuki nodded and headed out of the office, closing the door behind him.

Hisoka sighed and went over to the chair where he had set his jacket, it was completely ruined, stained beyond repair and the sleeves had begun to stiffen. Not that his shirt was any better, he hoped that Tsuzuki hurried, he wanted to get the shirt off and himself into the shower.

Remembering the feeling of that grotesque and distorted tongue, he shuttered. A hot shower.

It was about twenty minutes later when Tsuzuki returned to the room with a few printed pages in his hands. "I got it." He said, passing Hisoka the papers. "I told them I wanted to gauge the student reaction to Hontura Kya's death."

Nodding Hisoka accepted the printed pages. "Okay, I'm going, can you meet Wakaba at lunch and tell her what's going on? I was supposed to meet her under a sugi on the north-west side of the campus."

"Sure, are you coming back?"

"Aa, after I clean up and change I'll be back."

Tsuzuki flashed him a warm grin. "Let me know when you get back, okay?"

Hisoka scowled at him a little. "Whatever."

**XXX**

"Would you spend the night with me?"

Wakaba looked up a little surprised. "Come again?"

Aya blushed slightly as she realized how her question had sounded. "I mean, spend the night at my place. I don't want to sleep and staying awake will be easier with company."

Wakaba considered for a few moments as the two girls approached the tree where they had had lunch the bay before. After the dream she'd had last night, she wasn't sure sleeping was something she really wanted to do either, and the thought of having a sympathetic companion who wouldn't become a giant winged lion at a touch was an appealing one.

"Please Wakaba? You can come over right after school and I'll make us dinner…"

Someone else who could cook? This idea was sounding better and better…

"Alright, I just need to…"

"Konnici wa Kannuki-chan!"

Both girls turned towards the voice to see Tsuzuki coming up behind them with a warm smile on his face.

"Konnici wa Tsuzuki-Sensei. Were you looking for me or Hisoka-kun?" Wakaba asked returning the grin.

"You. I came to tell you His… I mean Kurosaki-kun won't be joining you for lunch."

Wakaba frowned, something must have happened, she turned to her companion. "Will you excuse me for a few minutes Aya?"

Aya nodded, looking a little confused. "Sure."

Wakaba walked a short distance away with Tsuzuki. "What happened?"

Tsuzuki's smile, still on his face had turned sour. "Hisoka fell asleep in his first class"

"Did he meet Kruger?"

"Aa. Hisoka came to my office and there were…" Tsuzuki paused looking for a way to describe the injuries. "Holes in his arms."

Wakaba nodded. "I had gashes on my wrist where his nails had cut me in my dream when I woke up too. They healed properly, right?"

Tsuzuki nodded hesitantly. "Aa, but it longer than it should have."

That surprised Wakaba, she hadn't considered how long it had taken her wrist to heal, but thinking about it now, she and Terazuma had watched for quite a while before the cuts had disappeared totally.

Aya's request was just sounding better by the moment.

"Tsuzuki, could you let Terazuma know that I'm going to be spending the night at Tanaka-chan's house?"

"Like a sleepover?"

"More like a no sleep over."

"That is not good for you, you need sleep and so does she."

Wakaba actually laughed at that, a bitter sound. "Until we figure out how to deal with Freddy Kruger-san, insomnia is probably the healthiest thing going around."

**XXX**

Tsuzuki blinked groggily, wondering what had awakened him, the room was dark he was sure he hadn't been asleep long. Rolling over in his bed he saw a figure standing at the window looking out at the night. He wondered if Hisoka was having problems sleeping because Terazuma had not been able to contact all the students on the list of those absent, or because of the dream he'd had that morning.

"Soka, you should go to bed."

Hisoka turned away from the window to face him, his features shrouded in shadow. "No I shouldn't."

"Soka…"

"I can't yet, I don't know how to fight him, if the teacher hadn't woken me up, I'm not sure I would have been able to wake up on my own."

Tsuzuki thought about that for a minute. "Well, how about I watch you then? That way you can get some sleep and if it looks like you need to wake up, I can wake you up."

Hisoka considered this. "Okay, but if it looks like I'm having a nightmare, you have to wake me up right away."

Tsuzuki nodded and climbed out of his bed. "I can do that. C'mon Soka-chan, it's time for bed!" He said in a sing song voice.

Hisoka scowled, but went over to the bed and lay down. "Don't call me that."

Tsuzuki grinned. "Do you want me to sing you a lullaby?"

"You do and it will be the last thing you ever do!" Hisoka threatened around a yawn, watching as Tsuzuki settled himself into a chair by the bed. His eyes drifted closed and he fell quickly into sleep.

And into the nightmare.

Hisoka blinked. He was still in the bed, Tsuzuki was still in the chair next to him, but the upper body of the violet eyed man was sprawled across his legs, and his eyes were closed. If it weren't for the twisted and repulsive form of Freddy Kruger standing at the foot of the bed, he wouldn't have realized that he was dreaming.

"Well, hello again boy."

"What do you want?" Hisoka snarled

"Your fear, your life, your soul, but for the moment I'll settle for your lack of interference."

"What do you mean?"

Freddy leaned closer to the bed looming over Hisoka's legs, and Tsuzuki. "I found someone with more power, energy and fears than even you have boy, normally he'd be beyond my reach, but he's enough of a child that I can still get my hooks into him." With that Freddy raised his arms above his head showing that his hands had been replaced by wickedly sharp curved hooks. Laughing, he slammed the hooks into Tsuzuki and began to pull the man off the bed.

"NO!" Hisoka grabbed for Tsuzuki but his hands passed through his partners' body. Both Freddy and Tsuzuki were beginning to fade away from sight.

"NO!" _It's just a dream!_

With frantic desperation, Hisoka wretched himself awake, bolting into a sitting position, breathing heavily.

Tsuzuki lay across his legs, asleep.

"Shit!" Hisoka reached out and laid his hands on his partner…


	6. Chapter 6

Look! Two chapters for the price of one! Acually, this chapter was finished before chapter 1 was! XD

It's my first real attempt to torture Tsuzuki. (Li-chan says I was really mean to him here!)

Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing this, I didn't really expect it to go over well, so I was surprised the responses I've gotten have been so positive!

Enjoy!

**Chapter 6**

Tsuzuki blinked.

He sat on a gently rolling hill, although he felt slightly disorientated, he was comfortable and relaxed. The sun was warm on his skin, and a soft breeze blew across the hill carrying the scent of sakura blossoms.

"Tsuzuki?"

Tsuzuki turned and gazed into the dazzling green eyes of his partner. Hisoka was sitting beside him, his legs drawn up, his arms wrapped around his knees. He drank in the sight of the younger man from his dark blonde hair to the delicate slightly frowning features and the slender, lithe body. God, he was wearing the ugliest sweater…

"Are you alright?"

Tsuzuki smiled at the concern he heard in his partner's voice and smiled reassuringly. "I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?"…_you're here._

Hisoka uncurled himself and stretched his arms up above his head before resettling into a more comfortable position. "You know Tsuzuki, I've had enough."

"Enough of what?"

"Enough of you. I'm tired of listening to you, I'm tired of being around you, I'm just sick of you and your insecurities, your doubts and depression." Hisoka's voice was soft and mellow, but every word hit Tsuzuki with the force of a hammer.

"Hisoka, I…"

The younger man turned towards him, jadeite eyes boring into him. "What are you anyway?"

"What do you mean? I'm human…"

"Bullshit!" Hisoka interrupted harshly, pushing back the sleeves of the oversized red and green stripped sweater he wore. "You are so far from human it's not funny."

"But you said…"

"I lied. I thought I needed you around so I tried to make you feel better, but I was wrong. I don't need anyone as freakishly wrong as you are."

Tsuzuki clutched his head in his hands, trying to drown out the words that were cutting into him, tearing him apart from the inside.

"What are you? A freak? A monster? A plague let loose on humanity? How could you even be allowed to exist? I should have done the world a favour and let you burn up in Touda's flames!"

"Don't…please…"

"Don't what? Speak the truth?" The youth's hand shot out and caught Tsuzuki by the chin, forcing him to meet those deep green eyes.

_There's something wrong with his eyes!_ "Hisoka?"

Hisoka blinked and let go of his chin, looking away quickly.

"Hisoka?"

A ferocious scowl formed on the familiar features and the slender body unfolded as the youth found his feet. His hands clenched and unclenched, the glove on his right hand creaked with the movement.

_Glove? He wasn't wearing that before!_

Dawning realization widened Tsuzuki's violet eyes. "You're not Hisoka!" Quickly he pushed himself to his feet and faced the form of his partner whose face was almost unrecognizable twisted with hate and anger.

Suddenly there was an odd shift, and something seemed to step back, out of Hisoka, and the small form began to collapse, only to be caught from behind by a gloved hand, each finger terminating in a razor sharp blade.

Tsuzuki's mouth fell open as he stared at the tall figure that stood holding his unconscious partner by the scruff of the neck. He was wearing the dirty red and green sweater and a beat up brown hat. Burned and scared skin stretched over a bald head, a hooked nose, beady, glinting malevolent eyes…

"You! You're…"

"You're worst nightmare?" The gritty voice sent a chill down Tsuzuki's spine.

"Hardly." Tsuzuki said with false bravado.

A cruel smile touched Freddy's lips. "I will be!" He gave Hisoka's limp body a rough shake. "Now what shall I do with this?"

"Let him go!" Tsuzuki demanded in a hard voice.

"Now why would I want to do that?" Freddy lifted Hisoka as if he weighed no more that a kitten, so that the boy's head was level with his own. For a moment Tsuzuki thought that the revolting abrition was nuzzling his partner's neck, until Freddy raised his head and Tsuzuki saw the blood running down from Hisoka's ear. "He tastes sweet!" Freddy licked his bloody lips.

Tsuzuki stepped back, his face twisted in revolution. "Why you…" He moved forward intent on freeing his partner from the monstrosity that held him.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Freddy held up his other hand, and another set of deadly sharp blades rested over Hisoka's chest. "You wouldn't want anything to happen to him now, would you?" A finger flicked and a streak of red appeared across Hisoka's breast bone.

Tsuzuki froze at the sight.

Another flick, another streak of red below the first

"Hey!" Tsuzuki cried out, "I didn't move!"

"I know," Freddy grinned. "But this is fun! Why don't you try to stop me!"

A third slice, deeper this time. Blood was flowing down Hisoka's body, staining his clothing red.

"Stop!"

"Tsu….zuki…." His name was little more than a breath that the bleeding, suffering form released. Green eyes blinked, and then closed again.

Freddy laughed. "You can't save him!"

More cuts, each deeper than the ones before.

"Please stop!" Tsuzuki reached out to Hisoka…

A flash of light flew from behind him and slammed into Hisoka and Freddy throwing them both back in a crumpled heap. Tsuzuki cried out wordlessly.

"Bloody bastard!"

Tsuzuki whipped around to see Hisoka standing behind him, fury radiating from his whole being, focused on the pair that he had just blasted. Those furious green eyes turned on him and he flinched.

"Tsuzuki no baka! You're dreaming!"

"Who invited you boy?" Freddy growled, pushing aside the bleeding lifeless puppet that he had been using to torment Tsuzuki and climbing to his feet.

"Wake up Tsuzuki!"

"Hisoka?"

"Wake up you moron!" Hisoka snapped, he stepped over to him and slapped him smartly across the face.

He blinked.

He was in a darkened room, sitting in the same chair he'd been in earlier, his upper body sprawled across the bed and Hisoka's legs.

He lifted his head to find that Hisoka was awake, looking down at him with a mixture of exasperation and concern.

"Hisoka, I…" Thinking of what the Hisoka in his dream had said, he faltered. _That wasn't Hisoka!_

Hisoka reached down, and gently wrapped his arms around the older man. "You baka! It was a dream. Whatever he said to you was a lie, that's how he works. He finds out what you're afraid of and he uses it against you."

Tsuzuki buried his face in the shoulder of the younger man. "He said…" But Hisoka shushed him.

"I know you as well as I know myself, if not better, and I'm pretty sure I know what he told you." Hisoka pulled back and nudged Tsuzuki to look up so that their eyes met. "You are human in every way that matters and nothing he can tell you can change that."

"But…"

"And I don't hate you. If after all the time we've been partners you can believe that, I may just smack you silly!"

A tentative smile touched Tsuzuki's lips at the threat. "Sorry."

Hisoka sighed in exasperation. "Don't be sorry, just don't fall for something so stupid next time, especially when you know better, I love you, you baka!"

Tsuzuki blinked at the declaration, and Hisoka's eyes widened as a vivid blush stained his cheeks.

"Hisoka?"

"I…I mean…"

Tsuzuki watched his partner stumble over his words for a moment, then smiled warmly. _He really meant it!_

"Thank you Hisoka."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Early morning sunlight streamed into the Tanaka Aya's bedroom. Wakaba yawned and stretched her arms above her head.

"More coffee?" Aya asked holding up the pot.

"Hit me!" Wakaba held out her cup and watched as Aya filled it to the brim.

"Additives?" Aya gestured to the creamer and sugar bowl.

"No thanks, I think I'll try to choke it down in its natural tar like state this time."

Aya grinned.

"I hate to say it Aya, but you make one lousy cup of coffee."

"Yeah, I noticed." Aya poured herself a cup. "But with the number of pots we've gone through, I think it's growing on me."

Wakaba giggled. "It's not growing on you, you've just finally managed to kill your taste buds with the stuff!"

Aya laughed. "If you say so. Hey Kannuki?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for coming."

Wakaba smiled back warmly. "Thanks for inviting me, I hate to think what the night would have been like if I just gone back to the…home."

"Let's see. First you would have spent at least an hour trying to convince yourself that you could sleep, then you would have spent another hour trying to convince yourself that the boogeyman isn't real. Then you would have spent the rest of the night coming up with one excuse after another why you couldn't possibly go to bed."

Wakaba nodded "That sounds about right."

Aya sighed and plopped down on her bed. "I know it's just a nightmare and I should get some sleep, but that guy just scared me too much, and so many other people have dreamt about him too…"

Wakaba knelt down in front of her. "It's not just a nightmare, and that guy is dangerous, I dreamt about him too, remember? And in my dream he cut me, and when I woke up the cuts were there."

Aya's eyes widened. "But that's impossible!"

"It happened."

"How?"

"I don't know, but it did."

**XXX**

The same early morning light shone into the hotel room that Tsuzuki and Hisoka shared.

"I think you own me your salary for the next three years." Hisoka said, laying down his hand. Full house, queens over aces.

Tsuzuki stuck his tongue out at his younger partner as he laid down his own cards. Two pair. "One more card and we'd have had the same hand."

Hisoka raised an eyebrow. "Tens and twos don't beat queens and aces. I still would have won."

"Soka?"

Hisoka looked up to find violet eyes regarding him seriously and he could feel the questions that Tsuzuki wanted to ask. "Don't." He started fidgeting with the cards. "I said it, I meant it, but now's not the time." His lips quirked up just the slightest bit. "And don't expect me to turn all mushy on you."

Tsuzuki grinned. "Of course not!" He yawned and stretched. "Ug. I wish I could take a nap!"

"Do you really?" Hisoka asked in all seriousness.

Tsuzuki lowered his arms, his mind flashing back to the nightmare he'd had and he shivered. "No, not really. But we need to sleep sometime…" Whatever Tsuzuki was about to say was cut off by the ringing of a phone. He turned and picked it up "Tsuzuki desu." And listened for a minute. "Alright, we'll see you later then."

Hanging up the phone Tsuzuki turned to Hisoka. "That was Terazuma." He said frowning. "He said we should turn on the news."

Hisoka nodded and got up to switch on the television.

"…Police are mystified at the reported deaths of three Kugutsu High School students. While the causes for two of the deaths are as yet undetermined, the third reported death has been classified as a suicide…"

Tsuzuki flinched.

"…Funeral services for Hontura Kya, Tagashi Yui, and Maruta Kito will be held this weekend…"

Hisoka reached out and turned off the television. "We should get to the school."

Tsuzuki nodded in agreement and they both hurried to get ready.

**XXX**

Wakaba sat a circular table in the school cafeteria. A rather shell shocked Aya sat to her left, she was taking Yui's death hard and Wakaba was worried about her new friend.

Hisoka sat at her left, his elbow on the table, his propped up on his hand.

The three of them were playing a very intense game of 'smack anyone who closes their eyes longer than a blink'. In fact, it seemed that game had become very popular among several members of the student population.

Wakaba looked up as Tsuzuki approached the table. He looked every bit as tired as she felt. Hisoka looked up as well.

"Keep moving Tsuzuki, I know you, if you stay in one spot too long you fall asleep standing up."

Aya shot him a strange looked and he shrugged at her. "He sat up with me last night."

Aya nodded, satisfied with the exclamation.

A scream suddenly ripped through the cafeteria and everyone turned to see a girl rise up into the air, blood pouring from her chest.

En masse the entire student body found its feet and the majority of the panicking students surged for the exits.

A room full of panicking people was too much for the empath and Hisoka found the floor, hard.

Wakaba and Aya pulled Hisoka to his feet before he could be trampled by the crush of bodies around them, he shook his head in an attempt to clear it, then pulled free of their supporting arms and staggered as quickly as he was able towards the girl who was still supported in mid air by an unseen force. She was flailing wildly, her motions causing her swing, and her blood splayed around her.

Tsuzuki had come fully awake when the girl screamed, seeing her rise into the air, blood spraying, had momentarily frozen him, but he had quickly recovered himself and started pushing his way towards the girl through a wave of students fleeing in the opposite direction. He saw a few other students moving to help the girl, and Hisoka. A wave of panic washed over him as he watched his partner drawing close to the girl, and redoubled his efforts. He remembered on the Queen Camilla how Hisoka had got caught up in Princess Tsubaki's dream when she grabbed his hand in her sleep, and how Hisoka had come into his dream last night. He wasn't sure if Hisoka had realized it yet, but this girl was _dreaming_.

And Tsuzuki didn't need three guesses to figure out who was in the dream with her. He fought down a wave of panic as he remembered what Freddy had done to Hisoka in his dream. _It wasn't Hisoka!_

But he was sure that Freddy would be more than happy to do those things to real Hisoka, or worse. He tried to call out a warning to his partner, but his voice was lost amongst the screams of pain and cries of fear.

He watched in horror as Hisoka reached the flailing girl and reached out to her, struggling to move forward.

Hisoka reached the thrashing girl at the same time as another boy and he recognised Igkaugra Tomo. They both reached out to grab the girl whose screams were growing weaker.

Tomo caught hold of the hem of her shirt and Hisoka's hand closed around her bare ankle.

With a gasp Hisoka found the floor a second time, only barely aware of Wakaba and Aya behind him shouting his name.

The shinigami and students watched as a few moments later the girl gave a last desperate gasp and fell lifeless to the ground.


	8. Chapter 8

Warnings for Hisoka torture ahead, probably for the next few chapters...I'll probably torture everyone else later though, just to be fair. (I hope Saphira 112 doesn't kill me for this!) XD

For U.D!

**Chapter 8**

_You'd think by now I'd have learned to avoid these little situations._

Hisoka recognized the feeling of falling into someone else's dream, he'd done it more than once before. The bright lights of the cafeteria faded away and the fleeing students that had been swarming from the room vanished into nothing.

The room in the dream looked dark, dirty and fractured, as if it had been deserted for centuries except for the girl whose ankle he still clung to and the scarred, twisted figure that held her aloft in a two handed grip by the blades buried in her chest.

Freddy looked down at him with a smile that seemed to freeze his blood. "I'll be with you in a moment." Freddy said over the girl's screams and gave her a hard shake.

Hisoka lost his grip on the girl's ankle, falling back.

Freddy bounced the struggling girl on the razor sharp blades, and with a last desperate gasp she went limp. Freddy let the lifeless body fall to the floor. As Hisoka watched, a white light gathered above the girl, her soul, he realized was leaving her body. In all his years as a shinigami he had never actually seen a pure soul without form.

A grating chuckle drew his attention back to Freddy who was also watching the soul, a hungry expression on his face. "Lunch time!" He announced, licking his lips.

Hisoka growled and reaching for a fuda, launched himself to his feet and moved to protect the soul from the horrendous monstrosity, but Freddy pushed him away easily and ripped open his sweater revealing the scarred flesh underneath. Hisoka landed hard and shock kept him down, moving under the burned and twisted skin of Freddy's chest there seemed to be faces contorted with pain and fear.

Freddy flashed a nasty grin at the horrified youth. "Can you feel them?" He asked, and Hisoka slammed up the strongest mental shields he could as the anguish of those tormented and trapped souls broke over him in a crushing wave, watching, dazed as Freddy drew the girl's soul into himself with a sigh of pleasure.

Hisoka climbed unsteadily to his feet, keeping his eyes on the scarred, misshapen man, he once again reached for a fuda, this time discovering that they were gone. A nerve shattering chuckle drew his attention and he looked up at the abomination.

Freddy fixed his coal black eyes on Hisoka with amusement. "Well boy, since she's dead, I guess this is your nightmare now."

Realizing that this was not the best place to be, Hisoka turned to flee, only to find Freddy directly in front of him. Freddy drew back an arm and backhanded Hisoka. He flew across the room and landed on his back, the wind knocked out of him. Black spots danced in his vision and Hisoka blinked rapidly to clear it.

He was almost sorry he had when he found Freddy's face directly above him. He started to move to get away, but Freddy put his hand on Hisoka's chest, holding him down.

"Ah, ah, ah, we can't have you running off!"

Hisoka cried out as Freddy thrust one of his blades through his thigh, just above the knee, embedding it deep in the cafeteria floor. Freddy twisted his hand, and there was a snap as the blade broke, pinning Hisoka's leg to the ground. Another cry of pain as a second blade pierced his other thigh in the same spot and another snap of breaking metal.

Hisoka struggled to sit up, but Freddy pushed him back down and two more blades tore through his arms, above the elbow, pinning him to the floor and once again Freddy broke off the blades leaving them embedded in Hisoka's flesh. He was trapped and helpless.

Gasping at the pain in his limbs Hisoka glared up at his tormentor. "When I get out of this I'm going to take your damned head off!" He growled.

Freddy laughed at the threat. "Maybe I should help you with that." He said bringing the last blade on his glove to his own throat and pressing hard.

Hisoka's eyes widened as Freddy cut into his own neck, and with a sawing motion began to tear through the flesh. The wet ripping sounds made Hisoka want to cover his ears, but he couldn't move.

There was no blood at first, but as the cut got deeper is began to leak a yellowish, rancid looking pus that oozed from the wound.

Hisoka's mouth formed a perfect o of horror and fear began to tear at his mind as he watched the aberration decapitate itself.

Finally the blade stopped sawing, and with a wet thunk, Freddy's head fell to the floor and rolled. It came to rest only two feet away from Hisoka's face, the glittering black eyes blinked and the thin lips formed a nasty grin.

"How's that?" The head asked him.

Hisoka screamed.

**XXX**

A small group hovered over the two unmoving bodies in the centre of the High school cafeteria. The girl was dead, it had only taken a moment to verify that. Hisoka was lying on his back, breathing shallowly. Tsuzuki gently slapped his cheek while Wakaba, Aya and Tomo looked on.

"Come on 'Soka, wake up!"

There was no response from his unconscious partner.

"Please 'Soka!" Tsuzuki sounded near tears and Wakaba moved forward and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Tsuzuki, maybe we should get him out of here…" She began, but was cut off when Hisoka cried out.

Startled, the two shinigami pulled back. Hisoka's body arced and blood began to pour from his right leg. There were twin gasps of shock from Aya and Tomo.

"Hisoka!" Tsuzuki moved forward again and Hisoka cried out a second time, his left leg began to bleed as well.

"What's happening to him?" Aya asked in a quavering voice as Hisoka's arms began to bleed in the same manner as his legs. Aya turned her head and hid her face in Tomo's shirt. He looked surprised for a moment, and then put his arms around her.

"Freddy is happening to him." Wakaba told her softly, her eyes wide with horror.

Tsuzuki picked up Hisoka, whose mouth was now open as his breathing became heavier. "We're going, now."

Wakaba nodded and moved to Tsuzuki's side and took hold of his coat.

"Wait! We're coming too!" Aya reached out for Wakaba.

Hisoka screamed.

Tsuzuki looked down at his partners face and teleported them out of the cafeteria as Aya's hand closed on Wakaba's arm.

**XXX**

Terazuma was pacing the hotel room waiting for anyone to contact him and let him know what was going on. Since the report that he had heard that morning, he had had the news on all day and less than ten minutes ago a ruffled reporter had appeared on the screen babbling about mayhem and death at Kugutsu High School. While he didn't expect great things from Tsuzuki, he had expected Wakaba or the kid to call him and fill him in. Growling in frustration, Terazuma considered going to the school himself to check things out.

Just as he had made up his mind to do just that, five people materialized in the hotel room, Tsuzuki, carrying his screaming partner, Wakaba, and two teens he had never seen before.

Both teens lost their balance and fell to the ground, Wakaba was pulled down on top of them by the girl's grip on her arm.

Tsuzuki moved swiftly to the nearest bed and placed Hisoka on it, while Wakaba and the two teenagers disentangled themselves and got to their feet.

"What the hell just happened?" Tomo demanded in a near shout to be heard over the Hisoka's scream.

Which suddenly fell silent, leaving Tomo's words hanging too loud in the sudden silence.

"That's what I'd like to know!" Terazuma told him.

**XXX**

Tsuzuki ignored the ruckus taking place behind him as Wakaba pacified a confused Terazuma and the two distraught teens, he had more important matters to worry about as he focused on his still sleeping partner.

"Hisoka! Wake up!"

But the green eyes stayed shut despite Tsuzuki's efforts. Brushing blond strands back off his sleeping partners forehead, he leaned in close and whispered in Hisoka's ear. "Just hold on 'Soka, I promise I'll get you back."

Suddenly Hisoka's shirt ripped open, buttons flying across the room, drawing everyone's attention. As they watched deep slashes formed on the smooth skin of the empath's chest forming two words.

YOU WISH


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"He's still bleeding."

Wakaba stood behind Tsuzuki who was still sitting beside Hisoka's prone body. She wasn't referring to the slashes that had appeared on the empath's chest, they had healed hours ago, but rather to the deep wounds that ran through both of Hisoka's legs and both of his arms. They had been bleeding since they had left the cafeteria and didn't appear to have begun to heal at all.

"Why are they still bleeding?"

Tsuzuki shook his head, he didn't have an answer the younger shinigami. They had wrapped the wounds with thick layers of bandages, but they had all been quickly soaked through as blood continued to flow.

"I'm going in after him." Tsuzuki stated in a flat voice.

Wakaba looked at him with wide eyes. "But Kruger…"

Tsuzuki turned his head sharply to meet the mismatched eyes. "I have to go after him, he's loosing too much blood. If we don't manage to wake him up soon…" Tsuzuki's voice trailed off and he turned back to his silent partner, one hand reaching out to brush aside limp strands of blonde hair.

"But how will you get into his dream?" Wakaba asked turning her own gaze to Hisoka's sleeping form.

The corner of Tsuzuki's mouth twitched slightly. "We've synced before, if I'm touching him when I fall asleep his empathy will pull me into his dream."

"Are you sure about that?" Terazuma asked, coming up behind Wakaba.

Tsuzuki nodded without hesitation.

Terazuma shrugged. It made about as much sense as anything else on this case did.

"I'm coming with you."

Both Terazuma and Tsuzuki looked at Wakaba with identical expressions of shock, and after blinking mutely for several moments, they began identical arguments of protest.

"Wakaba-chan, you can't…"

"Wakaba, you can't…"

Wakaba shot both men a blistering glare. "I can and I will. Freddy Kruger is dangerous, and he knows what scares us, but what scares you may not scare me, and what scares me may not scare you, so we'll be able to help each other see through our own fears."

Tsuzuki nodded slowly seeing the validity of her argument. Terazuma on the other hand was not taking well to the idea of his partner going where he wouldn't be able to protect her.

"Wakaba…"

"No Hajime, I'm going."

"This is not a good idea. We should find another way, maybe contact Watari…"

"Hajime, there's no time! Tsuzuki's right. Hisoka-kun's loosing too much blood too fast, and his wounds haven't even begun to heal. We have to wake him up now, and the only way to do that is to go into his dream and find out what's been keeping him asleep."

"And what if I can't wake you up again?" Terazuma asked his voice rising. "What if something happens to you or the great idiot over there like it happened to Kurosaki and your trapped in the dream bleeding to death or worse? We know that this Kruger has managed to killed shinigami before…"

"Which is why we can't wait." Wakaba offered her partner a tremulous smile. "We know he can, so we have to move before he does."

Behind her Tsuzuki flinched.

"Contact Enma-cho, see if you can get Watari here to help find a way to wake us up if we can't wake up on our own."

"Wakaba…"

"We'll be alright." Tsuzuki spoke softly. "We are going to find that bastard Kruger and show him what it means to mess with the Guardians of Death, and we will get Hisoka back." He looked up, his violet eyes hard and determined. "He finally told me he loves me and I'm not going to let him go now!"

**XXX**

Hisoka lay in the dark and gloom, his limbs throbbing, his body stiff and the congealing wetness beneath him to remind him that he was lying in a puddle of his own blood.

But he was alone, Kruger's body had retrieved its head and left the room hours ago, and that in itself was a blessed relief. For once, being alone in the dark seemed like the more pleasant option.

Until he heard the faint scratching around him.

His body tensed, causing the blades pinning him to the ground to pull and cut through fresh flesh. Black spots swam through his vision and he tried will his body to relax, tried, but he recognized the noise he heard. He'd heard it before while in the cell beneath his family's manor…

_Oh rats!_

He turned his head as he heard faint squeaking joining the sound of little claws scratching over tile. Squinting into the gloom Hisoka could see the shine of little eyes focused on him.

Dozens.

Dozens of dozens.

Hisoka watched with dread as a hoard of rats began to creep towards him out of the deepest shadows around the room. Turning he head around as much as he could he saw that they were coming from all directions.

And he couldn't move.

Panic was beginning to nibble at the edges of Hisoka's mind as the vermin crept closer. He'd had a rat bite before, when he'd fallen asleep in his cell, the bite had woken him up, and he had screamed at the sight of the rodent which had scared it away.

Somehow he didn't think that would work this time, not while pinned and helpless with the scent of blood drawing them right to him…

**XXX**

Aya and Tomo sat quietly on a sofa out of the way and watched as the shinigami prepared to go to sleep. Between the argument that had taken place a little while earlier and the subsequent preparations, the two teens had been forgotten, and so they kept a low profile in order to keep it that way.

The tall dark haired man with the determined violet eyes lay down beside the sleeping blonde and took his hand. Aya watched with trepidation as Wakaba lay down beside him and took his other hand.

The tall man with the odd ears and red eyes paced the length of the room, muttering to himself in a low growl under his breath.

"Don't forget Hajime-chan." Wakaba said as she lay down. "Call Watari-san, and watch us."

Terazuma nodded briskly, but otherwise didn't reply.

Wakaba turned back to Tsuzuki.

"Are you ready?" He asked her.

She took a deep shuttering breath. "Aa."

The two shinigami let their eyes drift shut and within minutes their breathing had evened out. As they fell into slumber their bodies relaxed, and the hands that had be tightly clasped uncurled just a little.

**XXX**

He was completely surrounded.

The rats were all around him, they had come within a couple of feet of him then stopped. While they converged they snapped at each other and lifted their noses into the air at the scent of blood.

And they watched him, waiting…

Hisoka fought to control his trembling as one bold rat came closer and scampered up onto his chest. It sat back on its haunches and regarded him steadily with its beady black eyes. He let out his breath in a hiss as the rodent moved forward toward his face, its dirty paws moving across his chin and cheeks as it moved closer to his eyes.

A bolt of panic had Hisoka tossing his head wildly and the rat was thrown off. It landed several feet away where it righted itself and hissed at him.

The sound seemed to act as a signal to the other vermin surrounding him and they all began surging forward.

The bolt of panic became a crushing flood…


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Tsuzuki blinked.

There was nothing rushing towards him, no evil scarred man leering at him, no menacing surroundings, there was only…

Tsuzuki blinked again.

His room.

He was in his room, blinking up at his own ceiling. Early morning sunlight poured into the room, and Tsuzuki pushed back the covers and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

A pounding at the door startled him, and without thought he got to his feet and made his way out to his door and pulled it open.

Hisoka stood with his fist raised as if to hit the door again, green eyes wide, a blush rapidly spreading across his face. "B-baka! Put some clothes on before you answer the door!"

Tsuzuki looked down at himself and 'eeped' as he realized that he was only wearing a pair of boxers. He turned and rushed back to his bedroom leaving Hisoka to show himself in.

"Sorry!" He called back down the hallway and heard Hisoka's answering snort.

"Hurry up or we'll be late."

It was while he was buttoning up his shirt that Tsuzuki's brain caught up with him and he stepped back out into the hallway. "Hisoka?"

"What?" Came the irritated response as the fair head came into view.

"How did you get here?"

Hisoka gave him a look that clearly asked what he was on. "I walked."

"But you were caught in a dream…"

"How much sake did you have last night?"

"Not enough to dream anything as horrible as the last few days!"

A hurt expression crossed Hisoka's face before it hardened. "You spent the last few days with me."

Tsuzuki's eyes widened. "That's not what I meant, I mean, um…"

Hisoka raised an eyebrow.

"Do you know who Freddy Kruger is?" Tsuzuki asked quietly.

"No, should I?"

"But we were…on assignment…I had to…"

Hisoka shook his head. "You must have been dreaming Tsuzuki."

"Dreaming?"

Sighing, Hisoka reached out and grabbed Tsuzuki's wrist, dragging him towards the door. "C'mon, if we don't go now, we really will be late and Tatsumi will kill us. You can tell me about it on the way."

**XXX**

Wakaba blinked.

For several confused moments she wondered what had happened, then spent several more confused moments trying to figure out where she was.

"Wakaba-chan!" A male voice called out.

Wakaba's eye's widened.

She was home…

**XXX**

"You're late."

Tsuzuki flinched as both he and Hisoka turned to see ice blue eyes regarding them steadily. Hisoka seemed relatively unperturbed.

"His fault." He gestured at Tsuzuki.

"Hissssooooka!" Tsuzuki whined.

"Baka."

"Excuses?" Tatsumi asked.

"Donuts!" Tsuzuki exclaimed as he held up the box. "Enough for everyone!"

Tatsumi and Hisoka sighed in tandem.

"Fine. Find you way to your desks and get to work." Tatsumi gifted them with a menacing glare. "Or else."

Tsuzuki took off, high-tailing it to his desk, Hisoka following at a more sedate pace.

**XXX**

Wakaba climbed out of her bed and changed from her nightgown into her school uniform as she did everyday when she'd been alive. _Old habits really do die hard_.

Looking around the bedroom that she hadn't occupied in decades she felt a growing sense of trepidation.

"Tsuzuki? Hisoka-kun? Can anyone hear me?" She called out softly.

"Wakaba-chan!"

"I'm coming Papa!" She called back before she thought about it and winced remembering her last nightmare.

Steeling her resolve, she pushed open the door and left the seeming safety of her childhood bedroom.

Her father was waiting at the door, looking exactly as she remembered him, tall, slightly heavy, messy dark brown hair falling over his warm and slightly sad brown eyes. "Are you still mad at me Wakaba?"

For a moment she floundered, then she remembered, her father had gotten a transfer from the school where he had taught high school english, the same school where she was a student, and they were supposed to leave Japan in just five days.

Wakaba had been furious when her father had told her about the transfer and the move, so furious in fact that she'd ignored the vision that she had had the night before _that _day.

"Wakaba? Are you not going to speak to me at all? I know you're angry, but this is the last day we'll spend at our school, we should put on a brave face and try to make some happy final moments to take with us." He reached out to brush his finger tips across Wakaba's cheek, but she unconsciously pulled away from his touch.

That day? _This _day! Oh god! It was _this_ day!

Her father sighed deeply and turned, heading out the door.

Silently, Wakaba followed him, caught in the events of the past, trepidation quickly dissolving into dread and fear.

This was the day her father died.

This was the day she died.

**XXX**

"…thanks Watari." Terazuma pressed the end button on his cell and resumed his pacing of the room, his red eyes flicking often to his partner and rival. He didn't like it, he didn't like it at all, they had been sleeping for almost an hour and nothing had changed. And Kurosaki was still bleeding.

Terazuma let out a pent up breath, ruffling the longer strands of hair that fell over his face. He wondered if he should try to wake them up, an hour was a long time… Too long.

"Weren't they holding hands when they went to sleep?"

The hesitant voice from the corner of the room made him jump. Shit! He had forgotten about the two teenagers that had arrived with his co-workers.

"Don't you kids have somewhere you should…" He trailed off as he realized what the girl, Aya had said and he whipped around, focusing fully on the sleeping trio.

The hands that had been tightly clenched were now laying limply beside each other, not touching. A quick glance showed him that Tsuzuki's grip on his partner's hand had also been lost.

"Shit! Shit, shit, shit…."

Rushing to the bed Terazuma gently shook Wakaba's shoulder. "C'mon Kannuki, wake up!" When there was no response he moved on to the great idiot that said they'd be alright and shook him roughly.

Nothing.

He needed Watari now, there was no time to wait while the scientist finished whatever experiment he was working on, even if the lab really would explode if the experiment was left unsupervised. Wakaba was in trouble.

Fuck the lab.

"Watch them for a moment." He directed the two teens, then teleported to Meifu to personally collect Watari Yutaka, who better figure out how to wake his partner up, fast.

**XXX**

Aya looked at Tomo.

Tomo looked at Aya.

They both shrugged and turned their attention to the shinigami who slept on.

**XXX**

Freddy Kruger stood in the deep shadows near the edge of the cafeteria, his head once again firmly attached to his body was tilted to one side as he watched the rippling mass of grey and brown fur in the center of the room.

Raspy almost inaudible cries echoed in the room, the only sound a throat long since hoarse from screaming could produce.

The terror and pain that rang through those tortured cries were the sustenance that his soul required to stay tied close enough to the mortal realm to touch the dreams of his victims, their fear was like a love song that drew him closer to them.

Stepping out of the shadows Freddy moved towards the middle of the room, and as he did, the rats began to flee, uncovering the torn and ravaged form of the boy.

Freddy plopped down on the ground, cross-legged admiring the way the wound covering the youth's body began to close. "I know you can't see me." Of course he couldn't, Freddy thought, smirking, the rats had gotten to his eyes. Idly wondered if they would grow back. "We'll wait until you're feeling a little better." He reached out and poked the prone body, pleased to see it flinch. "Then we'll start again."

That was what he like best about these dead but not dead kids, aside from the enormous amount of spiritual energy they carried, aside from the deep emotional scars and fears that they all seemed to have, they _healed._

And he had three of them


	11. Chapter 11

This is acually a long chapter for me! Please, don't get used to it!

So, as I said before, I have created a backstory for Wakaba. I hope it's believable, if not somewhat entertaining. Please don't kill me...

**Chapter 11**

Wakaba sat in the car beside her father in silence as they drove to the high school. Every now and then her father would look over at her with the saddest expression in his eyes, Wakaba just wanted to cry. Everything was moving forward just as it had on that day and somehow she seemed powerless to stop it,

Her father stopped the car in front of the school and let her out. Wakaba watched as her father drove the car away. _It's not real!_ But she was afraid.

Her first class was exactly as she remembered it, her friends threw her a little impromptu going away party, annoying her homeroom teacher to no end, and another student pooped his head in the door to announce that someone had released all the frogs in the biology room.

Before the end of class she overheard the conversation that made her blood run cold.

"…That Kannuki Sensei is such an asshole."

Maybe on another day Wakaba would have said something to her classmate who was defaming her father, but that particular day she'd been too angry at him herself.

"He's not so bad, just a bit strict."

"That jack off is failing me, if he does that I'll lose the whole year!"

"Maybe if you tried a little harder…"

"Yeah, and maybe if my classmates were a little more supportive rather than being such useless trash…"

Wakaba turned away from the conversation as she had that day. She felt like she was caught in a current of events that she could not alter, and she couldn't, this was her past. _Wake up!_

And as she was leaving the class room, the vision stuck her.

The vision she had had the night before her father died had been hazy and indistinct, so she hadn't told anyone. Wakaba knew now that it was her anger that had clouded her powers and made her unable to see properly.

This vision however, was as clear as it had been the first time she had it.

_A shadowy figure stood in a large room, there where empty shelves and books lay scattered across the floor. The library? The figure raised his arm and she saw the gun in his hand, laughing, he took shots at the frightened students and teachers trying to run away. Bodies fell across the books and moans of pain filled the air…_

Wakaba moaned at the force of the vision, never before or since had she seen one with this much clarity or detail. Caught in the flow of the past, she did what she had done that day, she ran to her father.

**XXX**

"Tsuzuki."

"But Hisoka…" Tsuzuki whined meeting the green eyes that glared at him from the next desk. "It's lunch time."

Hisoka snorted. "Like you really deserve a break. Have you even managed to fill out even one form?"

"Of course I have!" Tsuzuki held up a single piece of paper for his partner's inspection. "See!"

Hisoka got up and moved closer, taking the report from Tsuzuki's hand and looking at it. "What language is this supposed to be Tsuzuki?"

"Um, Japanese."

"I happen to speak and read fluent Japanese, so how come I can't read this."

"Hey, my writing's not that bad."

"And why is it written in green crayon?"

"'cause I couldn't find a pen and green's my favourite colour."

Hisoka blushed. "Baka."

"So, lunch?"

"I'll tell you what, you finish two more reports and I'll treat you to lunch."

Tsuzuki's violet eyes got wide and sparkly. "Really?"

"Aa."

"Yay! Bribery!"

**XXX**

Wakaba fought to break free of the past that seemed to be controlling her. Her father looked down at her with a serious expression on his face as she told him about the vision that she had experienced, just like he had on that day.

"In the library?" He asked.

"Yes papa."

Her father nodded. "I must do something about this, reason with that boy, maybe…" Talking to himself, Kannuki Hirogachi strode out of the room.

"No papa, wait, that's not why I told you, you can't go there!" Wakaba jumped up and hurried after him.

He turned in the hallway and looked back at her. "Stay here Wakaba-chan." He told her before he hurried off.

For several agonizing moments Wakaba stood motionless in the hall. Then, she had argued bitterly with herself about disobeying her father, this time she was just trying frantically to wake up, she didn't want to relive the next events. But, like she had before, she soon ran in the direction her father had taken.

She was only a few rooms away from the library when she heard the first shot.

She was outside the library door by the time the second and third had sounded.

Wakaba flew through the door into the room and stopped short at the sight of her father lying prone, his blood seeping into the carpet. _Please let me wake up!_ "Papa!" What had been meant as a cry was barley a whisper and she hurried to her fathers' side. "Papa, please!"

"Hey Kannuki-chan!"

Wakaba looked up into the bore of very large looking pistol, and behind it, the dark eyes of her classmate, the one who'd been insulting her father during first period.

"Come to say good-bye to daddy?"

Wakaba very slowly got to her feet.

_If only I had listened to what he'd been saying…_

"Please, don't." She whispered, beginning to back away.

_If only I hadn't told papa what I'd seen…_

"I'll give you three seconds to run."

_If only I had just pulled the fire alarm to evacuate the school, or something…_

Her eyes flickered to her father for a moment before she turned and started to run.

_If only I'd checked him closer…_

"Three."

_If only I'd been faster…_

Wakaba felt the impact of the bullets as they hit her back and she was slammed to the ground. A gasp escaped her lips, but there was very little pain.

She was on her stomach facing her father when his eyes flickered open.

"Wakaba…" His arm twitched as if he were trying to reach out to him. "Get away…"

But she couldn't move. She knew that one of the bullets had severed her spinal cord. She could barely feel the tears that trickled from her eyes.

And she could do nothing but watch as the muzzle of the gun was placed against her fathers' temple and the trigger was pulled.

She couldn't even flinch as she was spattered with her father's blood and… _Don't think about it, WAKE UP!_

All she could do was lie there and wait and watch as her own blood mingled with his.

It was along time before the world sank into blackness…

**XXX**

Wakaba blinked.

For several confused moments she wondered what had happened, then spent several more confused moments trying to figure out where she was.

"Wakaba-chan!" A male voice called out.

Wakaba's eye's widened.

She was home…

_Nonononononononononononono_

Wakaba screamed…

**XXX**

"You know…"

Tomo looked over at Aya.

"They were holding hands when they went to sleep so that they would stay together in the dream, right?"

"So?"

"If they're not touching anymore, then that means that they're probably separated."

"Uh huh."

"So what if we put their hands back together?"

Tomo looked sceptical. "Do you think that would help?"

Aya shrugged. "It couldn't hurt."

A flash of something determined crossed Tomo's face. "Okay, let's do that then."

Nodding Aya took Wakaba's hand and Tsuzuki's and held them together, wrapping their fingers around each other, while Tomo placed Hisoka's hand into Tsuzuki's larger one.

"How will we know if this helps?" Tomo asked.

Aya shrugged again. "We'll just have to wait and see."

**XXX**

Tatsumi hurried down the hallways of Enma-cho, drawn by the sound of shouting from Watari's lab.

Reaching his destination, he flung open the door, expecting the loudly raised voices to settle into sanity in his presence.

To his surprise he was completely ignored.

"…right now! There's no time to play mad scientist!"

"I can't! I told you I have to stay here for at least two more hours, these are highly volatile chemicals…"

"Fuck your chemicals!"

"…and if they cool too quickly they will combust."

"I don't give a shit if they take out half of Meifu! Wakaba's in trouble!"

"What kind of trouble?" Tatsumi asked moving between the two combatants, who looked ready to come to blows.

"Kruger has them trapped in a dream, her, Tsuzuki and the kid. We have to find a way to wake them up!"

Tatsumi turned to Watari. "Go with him."

"What! But this experiment **will** explode!"

"Let it."

Watari's eyes widened and his anger seemed to leave him. "Is it really that bad?" He asked softly.

"The kid's been bleeding out for hours and we can't stop it." Terazuma's voice was calmer now. "Tsuzuki went after him and Wakaba went too because for some reason the dufus is vulnerable to Kruger."

Tatsumi paled.

Seeing Tatsumi pale, Watari paled.

"Now I can't wake them up."

"Alright, I'll go." Watari gestured towards his bubbling beakers. "What about…?"

"Let it go." Tatsumi said. "I'll see if I can get Kanoe in here to put up a barrier around the table to contain the damage."

"Good, great, let's go." Terazuma grabbed Watari's arm and the two men vanished.

**XXX**

Tsuzuki was just finishing the second of his two reports when his hands began to tingle. The feeling ran straight up his arms and he shivered.

Then someone screamed.

"Did you hear that?"

"Here what?" Hisoka asked looking up from his own paper work. "Are you done yet?"

"I heard someone scream."

"There was nothing."

Tsuzuki stood up, intent on finding the source of the noise. Hisoka got to his feet too and moved to stand in front of the door. "Where do you think you're going?"

Before Tsuzuki could answer the scream sounded again.

"That's Wakaba-chan!"

Hisoka's eyes narrowed. "Tsuzuki…"

"Wakaba!" Tsuzuki called out.

"Tsuzuki?" Wakaba's voice sounded far away, but it was definitely her.

Tsuzuki reached for the door knob, only to have Hisoka grab his arm. "You can't go out there."

It was Tsuzuki's turn to narrow his eyes at his partner. "Are you real?"

Hisoka sighed. "I'm as real as you made me."

Tsuzuki closed his eyes and blanked his mind, and when he opened them again he was alone.

It was dark.

And he was standing in front of Kugustu High School.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Wakaba?"

Wakaba looked up, nothing had changed in her room, but she thought she heard Tsuzuki's voice. "Tsuzuki?"

Climbing out of the bed she hurried to the closet and threw on her clothes, then she hurried to the door. Gripping the knob, she hesitated. _Please don't make me live through that day again!_ Taking a deep breath she opened the door and stared in amazement.

She had been expecting to see the hallway of her old home, the stairway, and perhaps her father standing at the front door, but instead her door opened out into the empty night. And not to far away, she could see Tsuzuki, standing still, staring off at something beyond her line of vision.

Muttering a quick prayer for courage, Wakaba stepped out into the night.

**XXX**

Tsuzuki looked up at Kugustu High School. It stood out against the night, menacing, surreal. Fog rolled out from the building accompanied by a coldness that made him shiver.

He glanced over briefly when Wakaba stopped at his side.

"Hisoka-kun's in there?"

Tsuzuki nodded.

Wakaba took a deep breath and held it for a moment. "Okay, let's go then." She reached out and took Tsuzuki's hand, but hesitated to move towards the school.

Tsuzuki squeezed her hand reassuringly and led the way to the front doors.

**XXX**

Hisoka blinked his finally healed eyes, they still stung slightly, but for the most part he just felt numb. He could barely even feel the blades pinning him to the cafeteria floor anymore. Perhaps there was only so much a person could stand before they just began to shut down.

Hisoka snorted. He should be so lucky.

At least his tormentor had been gone for several hours… Or at least it had felt like several hours, time was slowly loosing all definition for him.

"Hey kid."

Hisoka screwed his eyes shut, not wanting to see the scarred and twisted visage that that voice issued from. Something prodded him in the side and a moment later, putrid air moved across his face. He opened his eyes in surprise, to find himself eye to eye with the refugee from Hell.

"It seems that you have company coming."

"No…" Hisoka breathed, shaking his head minutely, he didn't want any company in this place, there were only a few that would come after him, and he wanted them to be safely _awake_!

"Oh yes! And when they come here, they'll see you and come running in… and that will be the end of you!" Freddy grinned gleefully pointing up.

Hisoka's eyes followed Freddy's gesture and widened at the sight of several blades hanging above him, like the blades of a guillotine, hanging in a row. One positioned above his neck, his chest, his waist and his legs, if they fell…

The blades were suspended by fine wires that ran across the length of the room, then crisscrossed the doorway of the cafeteria, almost invisible. There was no way he could see anyone could possibly move through the entrance without breaking at least one of the wires. Hisoka swallowed, his eyes trailing back up to the blades themselves.

"And since we can't have you calling out and letting them know about the little surprise in advance…" Freddy tied a dirty, rotting piece of cloth across Hisoka's mouth. "It's kinda too bad you know." The beady black eyes boring into him. "I would have liked to keep you around longer, but your friends broke out the dreams I put them into to hold them." A disgusted look crossed his face. "I even let your partner have a _nice_ dream so he wouldn't _want_ to wake up." He shrugged and a nasty smile drew thin lips from rotting teeth. "I guess there are some people you just can't satisfy!"

Freddy climbed to his feet and brushed himself off. "Well, I guess I'll see you later kid."

Hisoka blanched as that horrific grin flashed his way.

"Or pieces of you anyway!"

**XXX**

The hallways of Kugustu High School were dimly lit by lights that flickered and cast strange moving shadows over the walls and rows of lockers. Cobwebs trailed down from the ceiling, moving faintly with their passing. In the corners where the shadows were darkest the passing eye could detect little flurries of movement that disappeared when looked at directly.

Tsuzuki held Wakaba's hand tightly in his own as they walked slowly through the surreal and macabre copy of the waking world. The hairs on the back of his neck tingled as if someone was staring at him, and although he looked over his shoulder frequently, there was no one there.

"Tsuzuki," Wakaba said in a hushed voice that you would normally use at a funeral, in a cemetery, in places of death. "Where are we going? This is a big school and it will take us a long time to find him, especially since we can't split up."

"We'll start with the cafeteria." Tsuzuki told her. "That's where we were when Hisoka entered the dream."

Wakaba nodded. "'Kay."

Tsuzuki notice that she was also casting her gaze constantly around them as if she too could feel the menacing, watchful presence that he could. He squeezed her hand reassuringly and she gave him a small tremulous smile.

Together they walked deeper into the darkness.

**XXX**

As soon as Freddy Kruger had left the room Hisoka had began to move once again against the blades that pinned him down, reawakening the blinding pain in his arms and legs.

_I don't care if I die here…_

He gritted his teeth and moved his right arm up the blade that pinned it, scarred metal moving through his flesh until his arm reached the top where the metal had bent when broken off, forming a jagged hook in the metal that prevented his arm from moving any further.

_But I'll be damned if I'm going to let that THING put Tsuzuki into a position where he kills me!_

Screaming into the gag, Hisoka pulled his arm against the jagged edge, serrated metal tearing into already bleeding and raw skin and muscle tissue sending starburst flaring behind his eyes. For a few agonizing moments he thought he wasn't going to make it, when with a last wet ripping sound his arm tore free of the restraining blade.

The starbursts bloomed into dark spots that grew in size, but Hisoka clung to consciousness with every bit of determination he could muster. Breathing heavily heavily, he curled partially onto his side holding his arm close to his body as he waited for his vision to clear.

Lying there for a little time, or a long time Hisoka couldn't tell, but he suddenly realized that he could hear footsteps approaching, echoing from the empty hallways. His eyes widened in shock, if they were close enough that he could hear them coming, then they must be about to come through the door…

Hisoka grabbed the gag with barely functioning fingers and yanking it down, shrieked. "Stop! Don't come in here!"


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Stop! Don't come in here!"

"Hisoka!" Tsuzuki rushed forward at the sound of the familiar voice only to be stopped short by Wakaba's grip on the back of his trench coat.

"Wait Tsuzuki!"

Tsuzuki looked back at her with a hurt expression on his face.

"You don't know what you're walking into, and it's almost certainly a trap!"

"I don't care!" Tsuzuki pulled forward against her grip. "That's Hisoka! I've got to go to him!"

"Tsuzuki!" Wakaba's voice was so sharp that Tsuzuki paused and turned to face her. "We'll go to him, but we'll go slowly and make sure that we don't get caught. We can't rush blindly into a trap or Freddy will win, and we won't be able to help Hisoka."

Tsuzuki slumped in defeat and nodded. Together they approached the door of the cafeteria and peered into the room.

The cafeteria didn't look much like it did in the waking world. Here it was dark and dingy, all the tables and chairs were piled in broken heaps around the outer edges of the room. Tsuzuki let out a low whimper, and as she focused on the figure lying in the middle of the cleared floor, Wakaba could see why.

At the center of a dark pool lay Hisoka. His legs and left arm outspread, his other arm was drawn in to his chest and he had partially curled around it, his eyes were closed and his breathing was ragged. Even from across the room Wakaba could see that tremors were wracking his body.

A hiss of indrawn breath drew her attention back to Tsuzuki. She turned to him and saw that his attention was no longer focused on his partner, but rather on something higher. Wakaba turned back and looked up towards the ceiling of the room.

And saw the blades that hung in the air above Hisoka's prone form. "How?"

"Wires." Tsuzuki reached out and touched one almost invisible strand running across the doorway, it sliced into his finger and a single drop of blood ran along the length of the wire. "If I had run through the door…" Wakaba felt the shiver that ran through Tsuzuki at the thought of what could have happened.

Wakaba began to study the doorway, from just above the top of the door the wires began running back and forth across the empty space, right down within a few inches of the floor. She crouched down measuring the distance. "Tsuzuki?"

"What"? He glanced down at her.

"Could you possibly lift the wires here, just a little bit without breaking them? Then I could slide in underneath them."

Tsuzuki looked closely at the wires, and then nodded. He pulled off his coat and wrapped it around his hands. Gently he lifted, careful not to put too much pressure on the thin strands.

As soon as there was enough room Wakaba was flat on the floor, sliding her body across the opening into the cafeteria. She got quickly to her feet and surveyed everything around her, seeing no sign of anything threatening she carefully approached Hisoka, feeling Tsuzuki's eyes following her every move.

She stopped at the edge of the pool of blood. In order to get close to him she would have to step into the cloying puddle. Nerving herself she took that last step and knelt down beside the trembling empath, grimacing at the feel of the sticky liquid beneath her knees. She leaned in close to the blonde empath, noting how pale his skin was, covered by a film of sweat. His eyes were closed tight.

Wakaba gently touched his shoulder. "Hisoka?"

**XXX**

Aya and Tomo watched from a corner of the room as the man with the funny ears and another new arrival with long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail looked over the three dreamers.

The blonde looked up at them. "So you put their hands together."

Aya and Tomo both nodded. "They made sure that they were holding hands when they went to sleep, and we thought it might help." Aya explained in a shaky voice.

Watari turned to Terazuma who was pacing like a caged beast. "It seems that is has helped, one of bon's arms has stopped bleeding."

Terazuma whipped around. "It did?" He came closer for a better look. "Why are his other arm and legs still bleeding?"

"I don't know." Watari was examining Hisoka's legs. "Without something physically in the wounds to keep them open they should have healed right away, but there's nothing there!"

"Maybe in the dream…" Terazuma began.

"Dreams can't affect reality!" Watari stated.

"Oh no?" Terazuma shot back. "That Freddy guy cut Wakaba in her dream and it carried over to reality. He did the same to the kid yesterday morning. These dreams CAN affect reality!"

Watari regarded the possessed shinigami silently for a moment, then turned and grabbed his bag off the floor. "Alright, let's try to wake them up." He pulled out a syringe which he filled from a vial of clear liquid.

"What's that?" Terazuma asked suspiciously.

"A mild stimulant, it should pull them out or REM sleep, and then we should be able to wake them up." Watari slid the needle into Wakaba's arm and depressed the plunger. "It should only take a few minutes."

Wakaba gasped and cried out in her sleep.

"What's wrong?" Terazuma asked.

"I don't know, maybe…" Watari trailed off into silence and everyone in the room watched with wide eyes as a pool of red spread underneath Wakaba's prone body.

**XXX**

Tsuzuki watched as Wakaba knelt by Hisoka's side and reached out to touch his shoulder without a response from the blonde, somehow there was something wrong with the scene, but he couldn't figure out what…

"Tsuzuki!" Wakaba called looking back towards the door. "He's pinned down here."

"What do you mean?" Tsuzuki called back.

Wakaba was pulling at something at Hisoka's leg. "There's metal going through his legs and arm, right into the floor. There's not enough here to get a grip on, I don't know we're going to get him up."

Drip.

"What about his other arm?"

"It looks like…" Wakaba flinched looking at the slowly healing damage that Hisoka had inflicted on himself. "It looks like he just pulled his arm off the metal."

Drip.

Tsuzuki winced. Studying the doorway closely he tried to figure out how he could get into the room without releasing the blades.

Drip.

Tsuzuki looked back up at the blades and his eyes widened to see a puddle of blood forming on the ceiling just to the side of the razor sharp steel.

Drip.

As he watched another drop of blood fell up into the growing pool.

Drip.

His eyes followed the path of the blood back to the floor.

Drip.

Behind Wakaba a set of familiar blades had risen up out of the pool of Hisoka's blood and very slowly the glove followed.

Drip.

Drops of blood fell off the glove, straight up to the ceiling.

Drip.

"Wakaba!"

Wakaba turned with a questioning look on her face and the gloved hand jerked forward, the blades sinking deep into her back and pulling her backwards.

With a startled cry Wakaba fell back into the pool of blood with a splash, deeper than the floor, and Tsuzuki watched in horrified amazement as the blood closed over her head.

"Wakaba!"

Before her arms could disappear completely into the dark liquid, another hand shot out and grabbed a hold of Wakaba's and hung on tight.

There was a spray as Wakaba resurfaced and pain filled mismatched eyes met equally pain filled emerald.

Tsuzuki pulled out a fuda and folding his hands into prayer position released a burst of energy towards the ceiling of the room. The force pushed the blades back, aiming them away from the two people beneath them, and in that moment he surged through the doorway, through the wires, which without the protection of his coat bit deep into his flesh before breaking. The blades fell with a clatter to lay flat on the floor of the cafeteria, the nearest one landing less than a foot from Hisoka's head.

Hisoka blinked at the loud clatter, but his attention remained focused on Wakaba, who clung to his hand tightly as her other hand scrambled for purchase on the blood slicked floor. With a gasp of pain she was dragged beneath the surface of the pool again, and Hisoka's face showed the strain as her weight pulled on his not yet healed arm, the spikes through his other limbs tearing painfully even as they anchored him.

Tsuzuki threw himself down on the floor just outside of the bloody pool and reached in deep to grab at Wakaba. Her free hand latched onto his arm and he pulled up. Wakaba's head emerged once again and she gasped for breath. Tsuzuki pulled again, and Wakaba came out of the pool, relinquishing her hold on Hisoka's hand as Tsuzuki dragged her back onto the clean floor. For several moments Wakaba lay gasping, still clinging to Tsuzuki's hand.

"Are you alright?" Tsuzuki asked, brushing a sticky clump of hair back from her face.

She nodded and began trying to wipe the blood off her face with equally covered hands. "I-I'm f-fine." Taking a deep breath in attempt to steady herself, she slowly sat up, wincing as she did so.

Tsuzuki scooted around behind her to examine her back, the back of her shirt was shredded and her back bore deep slashes, but they were already beginning to heal.

"Hisoka?" Wakaba asked, turning to check on the blonde.

Tsuzuki turned as well to find Hisoka watching them, not having moved since Wakaba released his hand. His expression was carefully neutral, but there were lines of pain around his eyes.

Getting to his feet, Tsuzuki eyed the puddle of blood warily before stepping through it, leery of falling into it the way that Wakaba had, but he made his way to his partners' side without incident aware of the green eyes that followed his every move.

Wakaba watched as well as Tsuzuki moved in close to his partner and leaned down to brush damp blonde hair back from his forehead, talking softly all the while. Feeling like an intruder on an intimate moment, she moved back to the door of the cafeteria to keep watch. She glanced over her shoulder at the pair to see Tsuzuki regarding the metal that had Hisoka pinned to the floor. Turning back to the doorway she found herself face to face with Freddy Kruger.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Wakaba's eyes opened wide at the burned and twisted face before her, fear and nausea fought for dominance as she stood face to face with the monstrosity who had tormented her sleep and her friends.

"Shall we dance little girl? " Freddy grinned and brought his arm up, wickedly sharp blades extending from each finger of the glove he wore.

Wakaba let out a little shriek as the glove came down with frightening speed towards her throat, blades glinting in the musty light.

And passed through her without causing any damage.

Wakaba gasped and looked down at herself, expecting to see fresh blood flowing, but instead she discovered that her body had become translucent, she was disappearing! It only took her a moment to understand.

_I'm waking up!_

Relief rushed through her, followed immediately by a new fear as she glanced back again at her companions. Ignoring the threat that was Freddy she turned and ran back towards them. "Tsuzuki! Hisoka! Come with…"

**XXX**

Watari and Terazuma both jumped back as Wakaba suddenly bolted upright.

"…me!"

The teenage shinigami looked around a little wildly before her gaze fixed on the two sleeping forms lying beside her. "Oh no, no, no…"

"Wakaba! Are you alright?" Terazuma asked, moving in to hover over her anxiously.

Wakaba looked up at him with mismatched eyes that were rapidly filling with tears. "We've gotta get them out of there! Hisoka's really hurt, and Freddy's there!"

Watari moved over to the sleeping pair. "We'll take care of that in a few minutes!" He said holding up a syringe. "They'll be awake in no time!" Placing the syringe against Hisoka's arm, Watari prepared to depress the contents when Hisoka screamed, his body arching, blood sprayed from the wounds in his arm and legs.

Watari jumped back in surprise dropping the needle which rolled across the floor, and after tottering for a split second, fell down the heating vent, clattering as it travelled further into the heating system. "What the hell was that? " Watari asked turning to Wakaba and Terazuma, seeing his own shock echoed in their faces.

"Can you wake them up?" Wakaba asked fearfully.

Watari dug into his pocket and pulled out a third syringe. "This is the last one. I could go back to Meifu and make more, but that would take a couple of hours. Maybe if I gave them each a half dose…" He trailed off considering.

"Would that be enough?" Wakaba asked hopefully.

"I'm not sure." Watari hedged. "Bon's pretty slight, with his body weight, half a dose should be enough to at least pull him out of REM sleep, I don't know about Tsuzuki… But it's worth a try!"

There was a muffled sob from the corner of the room and the shinigami all turned, having forgotten the presence of the two teenagers. Aya clung to Tomo's coat, watching them with wide eyes. Watari dismissed the teens as he turned his attention back to more important matters, once again sliding the syringe into Hisoka's arm, depressing approximately half the contents.

"Aya?" Wakaba took an uncertain step towards her friend.

"Wakaba!" Aya relinquished her grip on Tomo's coat and threw herself on Wakaba, hugging her tight. "We were so worried! We…" She stopped feeling wetness against her hand and seeing Wakaba wince. "You're hurt! We should get you to a doc…"

Wakaba was shaking her head before Aya could complete her sentence. "I'm fine, it's just a scratch."

Aya raised a brow doubtfully and pulled back her hand, holding it up to show Wakaba her now red palm.

Wakaba gave the girl a small, pained smile. "Really, it's nothing."

"Okay, I'm going."

"Going?" Wakaba turned back at the sound of Watari's voice to see Terazuma nodding at whatever the scientist had said.

"I'm going back to Meifu to prepare some more of that stimulant. I'm hoping what I gave them will be enough to wake them up, but if it's not we'll need more." His gaze moved back and forth between Wakaba and Terazuma. "As soon I'm finished I'll be back."

Wakaba nodded. "Okay, please hurry!"

**XXX**

From his place beside Hisoka, Tsuzuki watched numbed horror as the gleaming blades descended towards Wakaba, and through her. His relief was almost palatable as she turned and hurried towards them, seemingly unharmed.

"Tsuzuki! Hisoka! Come with…"

And then she was gone, with only a faint shiver in the air to mark her disappearance.

From beside him, Hisoka sighed. "She woke up." He told Tsuzuki in a hushed voice.

Freddy glared at them from across the room, fury twisting his already distorted face, and then it relaxed. "At least I still have you two!" Stepping forward Freddy ran the blades across the metal edge of a broken and warped chair, the resulting 'screeeeee' making both shinigami wince. "I won't let you get away so easily!"

"Pull me up!" Hisoka hissed to Tsuzuki.

"But…" Tsuzuki closed his eyes, he could picture the damage that the bent metal would do to his partners' limbs if he simply pulled him off of them. "No 'Soka There's got to be another way…"

"There's no time!" Hisoka sent a quick glance back at the scarred figure that was slowly approaching them. He reached out his free arm to Tsuzuki. "Tsuzuki, _please!_"

Tsuzuki could see the desperation and fear behind the pain in the emerald eyes, he reached down and grabbed Hisoka's hand, his other hand closing on Hisoka's shoulder and visibly bracing himself, he pulled. Hard.

There was resistance as the jaggedly hooked metal dug into Hisoka's flesh, but with a wet tearing sound, Hisoka came up, screaming, collapsing into Tsuzuki's arms and panting heavily.

Grating laughter sounded behind them. "That had to hurt." Freddy inclined his head in Tsuzuki's direction and almost cordially tipped his hat. "I didn't think you had it in you." His beady black eyes flicked over to Hisoka. "Was it worse than the rats?"

Tsuzuki felt the shudder that ran though his partner and shot a hate filled glare at the twisted visage. "Rats?"

"Gotta get out of here."

Tsuzuki barely heard the words that Hisoka whispered against his chest. Placing a supporting arm around Hisoka's waist Tsuzuki began to half lead, half pull him away from their pursuer.

Hisoka staggered with each step and a quick glance behind showed that despite his casual approach, Freddy was rapidly gaining on them. Tsuzuki swung Hisoka up into his arms and started to run, the sound off Freddy's grating laugh echoing behind them.

"Do you think getting away will be that easy?"

Tsuzuki dashed out of the cafeteria, trying not to jar Hisoka as he ran full out through the corridors of the Kugutsu High School. The hallways branched out in every direction, some shrinking to a point where the ceiling was less than a foot from the floor, others where the floors were tilting crazily in one direction, then another, throwing them off balance, and when Tsuzuki looked around he noticed that there was one corridor above his head that led straight up. The maze was so surreal that Tsuzuki was soon hopelessly lost.

"Put me down Tsuzuki, I can walk."

Tsuzuki looked down into the green eyes, then gave his partner the once over. Although the wounds in his limbs appeared to be healing, Tsuzuki noted that Hisoka's hands were fisted so hard into his shirt that his knuckles had gone white and the lines of pain that had not disappeared from around his eyes. He squeezed the youth tighter to him. "You told me not to expect you to get all mushy on me, but I can still get all mushy on you! I think I'll carry you a bit further."

Pain and fear momentarily forgotten Hisoka looked up at his partner in surprise, a light blush colouring his cheeks. "Tsuzuki…"

Tsuzuki finally came to a stop, they had reached a crossroads of corridors and directly in front of them was a young girl on a tricycle, about five years old wearing a frilly white dress with a red sash. She looked up at them with wide innocent blue eyes, long curly blonde hair spilled around her shoulders.

"They're all dead ends." The little girl told them, her sweet voice echoing down the corridors. "The only way out is through the boiler room."

Tsuzuki knelt down in front of the child. "Do you know how we get there?"

Hisoka looked at the girl as well and began to tremble, turning to bury his face in Tsuzuki's shoulder.

Tsuzuki immediately stood back up. "'Soka, what…"

"You have to go through there." The little girl pointed at a large full length mirror hanging in the corridor opposite them. "But he won't let you get away." She turned and began to pedal her bike away. "No one ever really gets away."

"Wait!" Tsuzuki cried out after her. "Come back! You should come with us! We can't leave you here!"

The sweet voice lingered, lilting. "One, two, Freddy's coming for you…"

With a start he realized that Hisoka had begun to shake his head. "No, don't, nononono…"

"Three, four, better lock your door…" The young voice fading away into silence.

Carefully Tsuzuki lowered Hisoka to the ground and went over to examine the mirror. After a moment Hisoka seemed to get himself together and pulled himself to his feet.

Satisfied that he could see nothing threatening about the mirror, Tsuzuki reached out to touch it. "I wonder what she meant…"

"NO TSUZUKI! DON'T TOUCH IT!"

Tsuzuki looked back over his shoulder at the shout as his fingers brushed against the surface of the silver glass, which rippled beneath his fingers and flew out in a tidal wave, engulfing the dark-haired shinigami, devouring him.

The fluid silver settled back to its flat state leaving Hisoka alone in the corridor. "Tsuzuki?" he rushed over to the glass, seeing nothing but his own refection. "Tsuzuki!" Reaching out the way Tsuzuki had, Hisoka brushed the tips of his fingers against the glass.

The second his fingers touched the silver surface it exploded outward in a hail of shards. Hisoka threw his arms up to protect his face, wincing as the shard bit into him and the mirror shattered to the floor. Hisoka looked down at the jagged remains, and in each broken piece of glass, each shard, he could see Tsuzuki wandering though the dark, confused and lost.

With tingling hands, Hisoka reached down and picked up the largest piece of broken glass, brushing his hand over it as if he could somehow reach the person he could see there.

"Tsuzuki!"

He was focused so hard on the image of his partner in the broken mirror, it took Hisoka several minutes before he realized that he was looking at Tsuzuki through his own hand. He held his hand up in the gloomy light, it was fading…

He looked down at himself.

All of him was fading…

He was waking up…

"No! Not…

**XXX**

"…now!"

Hisoka blinked as the bright light stung his eyes. Wakaba and Terazuma's worried faces peered down at him.

"Hey kid, how are you feeling?" Terazuma asked.

Hisoka turned his head to see Tsuzuki lying spread out beside him, then turned back to the other pair. "What happened?"

Wakaba perched herself on the edge of the bed. "Watari gave us a stimulant to wake us up, but one dose got lost, so you and Tsuzuki were each given a half does. It looks like it was enough to wake you up, now we'll wait and see if it was enough to do the same for Tsuzuki."

"And if it's not?" Hisoka asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Watari's making more, but it will take a while."

Hisoka shook his head in frustration. "We can't leave Tsuzuki there that long, I've got to go back…"

"You can't." Terazuma informed him.

"Why not?" Hisoka demanded of the red eyed shinigami.

"Because that stuff that Watari gave you will make it impossible to dream for at least a day."

"But we…" Hisoka began as he rolled himself upright and realized that there was something hard clenched in his hand, pressing against him under the blanket.

Terazuma and Wakaba exchanged a confused look at Hisoka's suddenly shocked expression.

Silently Hisoka pulled his hand out from under the blanket, and there, clenched in his hand was the piece of mirror that he had been holding in the dream.

And the sliver surface still showed the image of Tsuzuki walking in the dark…

Alone…


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Hisoka, Wakaba and Terazuma stared at the piece of broken glass in Hisoka's hands in fascination.

"That is not possible!" Terazuma said in a rough voice, watching the figure it showed turning around in a circle as if looking for something. "How can we see him? Is that his dream?"

In the glass Tsuzuki groped blindly as he took a few hesitant steps forward, he then raised his hands to cup his mouth, even without being able to hear him they could tell he was shouting something.

"It's dark." Wakaba and Terazuma both glanced up at the green eyed empath. "It's dark where he is and he can't see."

"Hisoka-kun?" Wakaba asked gently.

He looked up at her, lines of tension around his eyes and his lips set in a tight line. "It's dark and he's afraid and I can't reach him!" With that he flung the piece of mirror away from him.

"Hey!" Terazuma caught it before it could shatter against the wall. "Don't do that! This could be…What the Hell!" Terazuma nearly dropped the mirror as he saw the new face there looking out at him.

Wakaba gasped and Hisoka's lips drew back from his teeth in a snarl as the burned and twisted face of Freddy Kruger stared out at them. Amusement glimmered in the coal black eyes and he raised one gloved hand to hold a long blade to his lips in a gesture for quiet. A mocking grin stretched the scarred face into a gruesome parody of humour, and then Freddy turned away from his audience and started tip toeing towards his unsuspecting prey.

"Tsuzuki! Look out." Hisoka said, his works coming out hoarse and choked by fear as he watched the dream play out before him.

**XXX**

Tsuzuki peered uselessly around him. It was so dark that couldn't see his own hand in front of his face.

And he couldn't find Hisoka.

_Where is he?_

Tsuzuki growled in frustration, he had reacted too slowly to his partners' shouted warning and now they were separated. He raised his hand to cup his mouth and shouted Hisoka's name, holding his breath in hope of a response.

"Are you looking for something Tsuzuki?"

That was NOT the response he'd been trying for, but he whirled to face the owner of that gritty, rancid voice only to be met with more darkness.

"Just what could you be looking for?"

The voice had moved and Tsuzuki whirled around again.

"It couldn't be that little boy now could it?"

"Come out you bastard!"

"But I'm right here!" Cold steel pressed against the back of Tsuzuki's neck and sour breath ghosted across his cheek. He flinched back and cried out as the blade flicked causing a quicksilver flash of pain. A trickle of something warm and wet flowed down to the collar of his shirt.

"Or maybe here!"

Another quick slash, cutting through his clothing into the flesh of his upper arm, another deep scratch that let blood.

"Over here!"

Another flash of pain and there was a small hole in his left side.

"No, here!"

His upper right shoulder blade bore a similar wound. Tsuzuki turned in a jerky circle squinting into the pitch black to see his tormentor to no avail. "Stop it!" Anger simmered to the surface of Tsuzuki's mind, overriding the fear he'd been experiencing.

He felt rather than saw Freddy pull back in the dark.

"You're not afraid?"

Tsuzuki panted for breath, focusing on his anger for the abomination that stalked him. "Not really. There not a whole lot you can do to me, and whatever you do, I'll heal."

Tsuzuki couldn't see the grin that spread across Freddy's face. "Well, aren't you different. Most people are more afraid when they're cut off and alone, but that's when you seem to find your courage." Freddy chuckled knowingly. "But I can afford to play a bit. That boy is feeding me enough fear to keep me satisfied… For a while anyway."

Tsuzuki hissed out a breath. "Where is he?"

"Somewhere else. And when his fear no longer satisfies me, I'll swallow his soul, and that's all there really is of you dead but not dead types, isn't it?"

"Where is Hisoka? If you've done anything else to him, I swear I'll see thrown down to the deepest pit of Hell!"

"I've been there, thanks." Freddy said as he stepped forward, directly in front of Tsuzuki.

Tsuzuki jerked backwards at finding himself nose to nose with deformed and ravaged countenance.

"You know, you meet some interesting people in Hell."

Tsuzuki was finally able to focus on the shadowy form, was it getting lighter or were his eyes finally adjusting to the darkness?

"Like this one for instance…" Freddy reached down into a dark, shimmering pool by his feet and pulled up a handful of hair and Tsuzuki found himself looking into a pair of very familiar eyes brimming with unimaginable anguish.

"R-Ruka?" Tsuzuki stumbled back in disbelief. "No…"

"She spent her life nurturing a demon, do you honestly think a soul like hers would end up anywhere else but Hell?"

A thin arm reached out to him, but Freddy yanked her back by his hold on her hair.

"Let her go!" A pulse of power radiated out from Tsuzuki, sweeping dust and debris into the air where it hung motionless, pulsing with the energy still radiating out from the shinigami whose aura had become darker than the darkness sourrounding him.

Freddy's grin widened.

**XXX**

As the power pulsed out from Tsuzuki, the broken silvered glass fell from between numb fingers to shatter on the floor. Hisoka's world tunnelled, overrun by the sudden outpouring of emotion from the sleeping figure beside him.

"Tsu…ki…"

Hisoka reached out to the silent figure, but collapsed before he could touch the violet eyed man. The pain, fear, anger and pure hate emanating from the man reached a crescendo pitch and Hisoka griped his head in both hands trying desperately to raise his mental shields.

Blood began to drip from his nose and something wet was running from his ears…

**XXX**

"Did you expect her to go to Heaven for her crimes against humanity?" Freddy taunted, giving the head in his grasp a rough shake.

"She didn't do anything wrong! " Tsuzuki cried out.

"Oh no? She loved you. That was enough to damn her soul." With only her head and upper body protruding from the black pool the slight figure no leverage or means to protect herself. Freddy jerked her head and the delicate features smashed into the floor with an audible crunch as her nose broke.

"Don't hurt Ruka-chan!" Tsuzuki screamed at his enemy, his dark aura pulsed red. He watched in mind numbing horror as Freddy let go of the long dark hair and the abused figure slumped, seemingly lifeless to the ground.

"Now about that little partner of yours…"

"Ruka?"

There was nothing…

"RUKA!"

The world shuttered as Tsuzuki let go…

**XXX**

They would have had to be dead to miss the build up of arcane energy around Tsuzuki, at least a whole lot deader than they were now. The air felt sharp, holding that particular tang that comes before a storm. Even Aya and Tomo could feel it, shifting nervously.

Wakaba and Terazuma exchanged an anxious look, but neither could think of anything that might help.

Wakaba gasped and Terazuma swore as the energy suddenly spiked out from Tsuzuki, throwing all of them into the walls.

Aya and Tomo collapsed in a crumpled head, but the shinigami were made of tougher stuff and painfully got back to their feet. With uneasy eyes locked on Tsuzuki's motionless form, they tried to brace themselves for whatever was to come next.


	16. Chapter 16

All, or at least most, will be explained in time!

**Chapter 16**

Freddy sat on a neatly made bed in a nearly empty hotel room. His black beady eyes focused intently on the screen of a small television tucked in the corner, a remote rested in one gloved hand. On the screen a very grainy image showed the interior of the same hotel room with a little more activity. Two figures moved in a cautious, concerned manner around the same bed that Freddy sat on, but on the screen the bed was occupied by two prone bodies. Father away against one wall, two figures lay unconscious in a crumpled heap against one wall. Freddy focused on those two figures closely for a moment and a hungry grin playing around his twisted lips. "Let's see what else is on." He flipped the channel, there was a much clearer picture of a sprawled body lying in a dark and devastated landscape, racked with tremors. Freddy's grin grew more predatory. Flicking the channel again back to the interior of the hotel room, but this time it showed Freddy himself sitting on the bed. A sopping wet, life sized Ruka-doll laid carefully across a nearby chair and on the floor, near Freddy's foot, just barely visible was a delicately boned hand, lying limp in unconsciousness.

Freddy chuckled to himself and looked down at his feet and the hand laying there. "Fooled you, didn't I?" He asked the insensible figure.

Turning back to the television, Freddy changed the channel yet again. This time the screen showed a girl of about sixteen in the dusty, dirty front hallway of an old house. Her long black hair swished around her as she turned, trying to figure out where she was. She put the back of her hand to her mouth as if to suppress a sob, then stilled.

"Who's there?" Freddy said in a falsetto as the girls' lips formed the same words on the screen. She peered down the hallway leading farther into the house. Freddy sighed and pounded the heel of one hand against his head. "You're right, it's a really bad idea, but do it anyway."

The girl on the screen tentatively took one step down the hallway, and then another, disappearing into the shadows that made the heart of the house.

"Predictable." Freddy muttered shaking his head.

Once again he raised the remote and the channel changed one last time to show the interior of a normal looking bedroom. A dresser stood against one wall, the closet door was ajar, and lying in the twin sized bed was a young man, apparently asleep, just beginning to stir with the first signs of waking up.

Freddy switched off the TV, and made his way over to the still drenched Ruka doll, blades flashed, bits of material flew, and Freddy's arms moved in a blur as he made the necessary adjustments to the doll. Checking the invisible thread attached to the doll, he pulled one and the doll twitched.

Looking back towards the bed and the still unconscious figure lying mostly hidden from sight, Freddy allowed an evil grin to pull up the corners of his mouth. "I'm going for a snack now kiddo, But don't worry, I'm leaving you a little surprise in case you wake up before I get back!"

**XXX**

"Who's there?" Aya called out, hearing a noise from somewhere down the dark hallway. She didn't know where she was, and she was scared. One moment she had been in the hotel room with Wakaba and her companions, there had been a strange feeling of building pressure, then it had exploded outwards and she had been picked up with it and flung into a wall, then she had found herself here.

It was the entry way of a house that she had never been in before. It was dark and dirty, it felt deserted, it felt _bad._ The first thing that Aya had done was to try the front door, but the knob wouldn't turn and the door wouldn't open. The small widow on the top of the wall was broken, but there were bars over it.

Stepping farther into the entry way Aya could see to the left was a dining room, and to the right was a living room, both rooms featured a large window with gauzy curtains, and both windows had iron bars over them as well. In front of her there was a set of stairs leading up to a second level, and a hallway leading deeper into the house. Both were swathed in shadows, she could not see the top of the stairs nor the end of the hallway.

The noise had made her jump, and when she received no answer to her call, she hesitantly moved down the hallway into the shadows. It only took a few steps before she saw a flickering light to her right. She moved towards it to find herself standing a partially opened door. She pushed it wide to reveal another set of stairs, these ones metal and narrow, leading down into a red lit haze of steam and flickering light. There was the sound of moving machinery, metal moving against metal, the hiss of escaping steam, and another sound she couldn't quite place…

"Hello?" Aya called out, taking one step forward onto the first stair.

"Aya?" The voice that called her name was faint and distant… and familiar.

"YUI!" Aya screamed and tore down the stairs as fast as she could.

**XXX**

Tomo blinked and bolted upright, his hand fisting in soft material.

_What?_

His gaze swept over the familiar room, his desk and chair, the dresser, the open closet showing his clothes and the sports equipment piled beneath them.

_It was like an electrical storm, the air was practically crackling…_

Shadow stretched across the room and he could faintly hear movements and voices downstairs.

_And then we were flying…_

Outside the window, the sun was sitting low on the horizon.

_Was I dreaming?_

Tomo threw back the covers and swung his legs over the side of the bed, his sneakers making almost no noise against the floor.

His sneakers.

Tomo looked down at himself, he was fully dressed.

_I wouldn't go to bed with my clothes on!_

Tomo turned in a circle, not sure what he was looking for, but he was positive that this was not his room, not his parents' voices that he could hear downstairs, not real.

"Aya!" He called out, hoping for a response.

The light faded from the room and there was a creaking sound from above him. Tomo looked up to see the ceiling bulge downwards, glistening and wet, like some kind of repugnant egg sac, pulsing in sickening waves. Tomo backed away slowly feeling the nausea swell along with the abbreviation in his ceiling. He backed away until his back hit a wall. Cursing quietly, Tomo realized that he had backed himself into was the farthest from the door. In order to reach the door, Tomo would have to go under that slimy, quavering distortion.

Slowly, four lumps formed in the side of the hanging mass, a single blade emerging from each one, they moved down, cutting through it as if the material of the ceiling was a light fabric rather than plaster. As the blades moved down in unison the material of the ceiling spread, revealing two beady black eyes staring out at him from a scarred face.

Tomo shuttered as a malicious chuckle rang through his bedroom.

**XXX**

Watari materialized into the hotel room where Wakaba and Terazuma were staying, only to drop the package he was carrying at the state of the room. Chairs and tables had been overturned, pictures knocked off the walls, the window had cracked, and the two teens that he had barely noticed last time he was there were slumped against one wall, out cold.

Wakaba and Terazuma stood close together, watching Tsuzuki's slumbering form intently.

"What happened here?" Watari demanded as he picked up the package, checking the contents to make sure nothing had been damaged.

Wakaba jumped at the sound of his voice. Terazuma seemed to shake himself out of a trance and pulled out a cigarette and lighting it.

"We're not sure." Wakaba told him. "It must have been bad though, Tsuzuki let out a burst of energy that knocked us all off our feet!"

Watari moved over to the bed to check over the sleepers. "Neither one of them woke up?" He asked, looking over Tsuzuki's prone form before moving to check on Hisoka.

Wakaba shook her head. "No."

Watari looked over the youth closely taking note of the trickle of blood from his nose and ears. "That can't be good." He took Hisoka's wrist in his hand and felt for a pulse, thready but there. "We have to wake them up now!" Watari pulled two syringes from the package and set one on a bedside table, he prepared to inject the other into Hisoka's arm.

"YUI!"

The shinigami all turned at the sound of Aya's cry.

Watari stilled, the point of the needle resting against the skin of Hisoka's inner elbow. "Are they alright?"

Wakaba hurried over to the two teens. "Aya? Tomo?" She gave each one a little shake. "Are you okay? Come on, wake up!"

Terazuma watched as Wakaba tried to wake up the two teenagers, then he looked over to where Watari stood with the syringe still in hand. His gaze travelled back and forth several times before he came to the inevitable conclusion. "Aw shit!"

Watari closed his eyes in frustration as he came to the same conclusion as the possessed shinigami, He opened his eyes and looked down at the slender sliver needle resting against pale skin. "Damn!" Pulling the needle away, Watari hurried over to where Wakaba was still shaking the teens. "Here." He took Tomo's arm into his hands and injected the contents of the needle.


	17. Chapter 17

-1I'm back!

**Warnings:** Bad, evil things happening ahead, not for the faint of heart…

Once again, this is a long chapter for me… Please don't get used to it!

**Chapter 17**

Aya moved as quickly as she could through the red lit steam, the sound of her footsteps echoing through the metal labyrinth. "Yui!" Aya called, hoping for a response, for anything that would tell her which direction to go, but since the first cry, Yui's voice had been silent. Descending another metal stairway Aya slipped, her feet flying out from under her and she grabbed hold of the railing to keep herself from plummeting down. One ankle twisted at an odd angle and Aya cried out in pain.

Pulling herself back to her feet, Aya gingerly put her weight down on her injured ankle, it hurt a lot, but she was still able to walk. Limping, Aya continued down the stairway, deeper into the bowls of the dream…

**XXX**

Tomo watched eyes wide and stomach clenching as the bulging sac that had been his ceiling split where the blades cut through it.

With a wet shlopping sound the scarred beady eyed _thing_ felt to the floor. Naked, wet and twisted, a scarred head rested on a horribly deformed body. The head turned and the beady black eyes locked on the youth, who had begun to shiver with fear and disgust.

Thin lips turned up in an evil leer, and malformed limbs pushed the _thing_ up. Spider-like, it skittered towards him, it motions fast and jerky.

Tomo unconsciously tried to back up into the wall in his need to get away from it, the weaving pattern it made coming towards him and the speed it moved with vanished any hope of running.

The blades that had cut through the material of his ceiling were lodged at the end of long tentacle like appendages that spread out from the main mass of the _thing._ Each moving independently, they waved out to both sides, closing in on him.

Suddenly, with perfect precision, the blades all moved together, lining up almost too fast for the eye to follow and thrust at him.

Tomo gasped as the blades dug into his stomach, he could hear his heart pounding in his ears, he could hear the laughter of the Freddy thing as he was lifted into the air by the blade embedded in his flesh, he could hear his own cries as the pain and fear overcame him, his entire body was tingling…

He could hear panicked yelling and blinked. Something pressed down on the bleeding wounds and Tomo flailed out, too afraid to realize that the hands on him were trying to help.

"…okay! It's okay, you're awake now!"

**XXX**

Aya stumbled to a halt and stood still straining to hear over the hiss of steam and grinding of metal. There, there it was again, a low pain-filled moan. Aya started to move forward again as quickly as she could on her injured ankle, grasping at the railings and machinery for support.

"I'm coming Yui!"

"Aya…"

Aya flinched, she had never heard her friends voice like that, so full of pain and despair. Not Yui, Yui was always cheerful, even in the worst of times Yui would hold her head up and charge ahead. What could Freddy have done to her to fill her voice with such fear and hopelessness?

**XXX**

Wakaba gasped as Tomo cried out and arched, a red stain rapidly blossoming on his shirt. She held Aya tightly as she watched Watari whip off his lab coat and use it to press down on the wounds, attempting to staunch the flow of blood. The boy thrashed wildly, forcing Watari to duck away from his flailing fists.

"Watari! Is he…"

"It's okay! Stop, I'm trying to help you! It's okay! It's okay, you're awake now!"

Tomo calmed slightly, pain filled eyes blinking up at the blonde man. "Awake?"

Watari nodded. "You're awake." He pressed down on the wounds again and flinched at the boy's whimper. "I'm sorry, but you're bleeding pretty badly."

Tomo nodded and let his eyes close as he concentrated on his breathing.

"We have to get him to a hospital."

Watari looked up at Terazuma who had come up behind him. "Right, let me give the girl the other shot and you guys can take both of them." He gestured for Terazuma to kneel beside him. "Hold this." He placed Terazuma's hand over the lab coat and pressed down firmly. "Just keep applying pressure." He directed as he jumped to his feet and hurried back to where he had left the other syringe.

**XXX**

Aya ran forward as fast as she was able on her injured ankle and stopped dead.

She had come to an open area in front of a huge boiler that roared to life the moment she saw it. Heat rolled out in thick waves and the flames twisted and danced, sending strange, shifting light moving over the steel surroundings, and the dark stained lump laying at the end of a wet trail.

"Yui?" Aya asked fearfully, slowly moving towards the unmoving shape. "Yui?" As she got closer she could see fine needles sticking out of the mass, jutting in all directions.

Suddenly the lump moved and sat upright, startling a small shriek from Aya.

Aya stopped her approach as the lump that was her best friend turned to face her. Her short dark hair was plastered flat to her head and shone wet in the flickering light. From a needle in her forehead, a trail of blood had flowed, splitting over her nose and into each eye, from where it had fallen like black tears, leaving stains across her cheeks. Those flat lifeless red -rimmed eyes moved in Aya's direction.

Tears ran down Aya's face as Yui reached out to her, slowly and painfully.

"Aya…"

Aya unconsciously took a step backwards. "Yui!" She sobbed.

"Help me!" Yui's body tumbled over as she overbalanced herself reaching out to Aya. "Please… Aya!"

"Oh God, help me!" Aya sobbed out as she moved forward and reached for Yui's hand.

She didn't make it.

A shadow fell over her arm before she could touch Yui's fingertips and Aya looked up to see Freddy Kruger standing over her and her friend. Aya cried out in fear and fell on to her backside in her scrabble to get away from him.

Freddy smirked evilly at the girl. "Good little girls shouldn't play with sharp objects" He stepped forward, on Yui's right leg, crushing it flat beneath his foot.

Yui shrieked. "Aya!"

"Like knives or needles." Freddy stepped forward onto the small of Yui's back, and with a wet crushing sound Yui's pelvis and lower abdomen collapsed.

"Stop it!" Aya screamed in fear and horror as Yui's partially smashed form whimpered under Freddy's feet.

"They could get hurt!" Freddy stepped forward between Yui's shoulders, and Yui screamed as her chest was crushed.

Aya leapt to her feet and flew at Freddy, launching her full body weight at him in an attempt to push him off her friend.

Freddy caught her easily by the throat and held her in a one handed grip, dangling in the air, her feet kicking wildly.

"But she wasn't a good girl." Freddy proclaimed as he took a final step forward. Aya's eye's darted downwards to see Freddy's foot descending toward Yui's head and looked away quickly, fighting the hand squeezing her neck, tearing at it with her nails.

She could still hear the fracturing of Yui's skull under Freddy's heel, the final gurgle of blood pouring from a wrecked mouth, but she was too busy gasping for breath to scream…

**XXX**

Wakaba jumped in surprise as Aya arced in her arm and started clawing at her throat, gasping for breath. Quickly the shinigami grabbed the girl's hands to prevent her from ripping her throat to ribbons with her nails.

Aya arched again and her body spasmed.

"Watari! Hurry!" Wakaba cried out as one of Aya's hands pulled loose and she tore ragged scratches down her cheek and neck before Wakaba was able to capture it again.

"I'm coming!" Watari yelled as he grabbed the syringe and ran back to where the group was sitting. He slid down beside Aya and Wakaba and slid the needle into a straining arm, depressing the contents in one fluid motion.

**XXX**

Aya twisted and thrashed futilely in Freddy's grasp, trying to draw air into her oxygen starved lungs, one hand tightly gripping the sleeve of the ugly red and green sweater, the other tearing unsuccessfully at his wrist and fingers.

Freddy chucked at her efforts and gave her a rough shake as he stepped off of the flattened corpse that had been her best friend.

"Now how to do this…" Freddy brought his other hand up, blades glistening in the flickering light.

Aya's eyes rolled in fear.

"I have killed hundreds of children in this place and each one in a different way." Freddy's grin grew hungry. "And each one more painful than the last." He brought his hand up and trailed one blade down Aya's cheek.

"You're…" Aya forced the words out past Freddy's painful grip and her own crushed windpipe. "Not… real!"

Freddy pulled her close, and Aya cringed as his fetid breath brushed over his face. "Oh, I'm very real, but I'm also very dead. Ironically enough, I died in this place too!" A blade came up under Aya's chin and pressed into the soft skin there. "And so will you!"

Suddenly Freddy's eyes widened and he threw Aya away from him. There was a tearing sound as the sweater ripped where Aya had been gripping it and a piece tore loose.

"Shit!" Freddy swore. "Not again!" He brought the gloved hand up and lunged at Aya who threw her arm up and closed her eyes…

"Aya!"

Aya blinked and slowly lowered her arm. "Wakaba?" She winced and tears welled up in her eyes at the pain in her throat, but were all but forgotten in the overwhelming tide of relief.

"Aya, are you alright?"

Aya couldn't get the words to form, so she nodded and gripping Wakaba's shirt began to cry, her fingers clenching and unclenching in the material.

"What's this?" Wakaba asked, gently taking one of Aya's hands and prying her fingers open.

Aya blinked back tears and sniffled. Turning her head she could see the piece of dirty red and green fabric in her hand.

**XXX**

A dark shadow flittered silently over a blank and dismal landscape, scoured clean by the burst of power that had flowed over it, blank but for the crumpled form trembling at the centre of the devastation.

Angrily Freddy strode forward, his small prey was gone, and while their fear had whetted his appetite, he needed more.

A mad grin stretched scarred lips as he came close enough to hear the words being muttered in endless repetition…

"I did it. I did it. I did it…"

"Oh yes you did." Freddy hissed in amusement, leaning in close to whisper in an ear partial concealed by dark brown strands. "You did it alright, and not just here."

Tsuzuki's words trailed off and his eyes clenched tight in an attempt to ignore the grating voice.

"Somewhere your body was lying in a little hotel room being watched over by your friends, and then they noticed a build up of energy around your body. Heaven knows what the little empath felt. Then poof!"

Tsuzuki's eyes opened wide. 'Poof?' He mouthed the word silently.

"I think you may have caused a little bit of damage Mr. Tsuzuki." Freddy chuckled, delighting in his victims despair and misery.

"No, no, nononono…"

"Oh yes!" Freddy's chuckling was threatening to become full out laughter, this was so much fun! "You blasted the lot of them!"

"You lie!"

"What?" Freddy back-pedalled at the strength in Tsuzuki's words.

"You're lying!" Tsuzuki accused, pushing his way to his feet. "That wasn't Ruka, and my friends are fine!"

"Why would I lie?" Freddy asked, his voice radiating venom and sickenly sweet false sincerity.

"Because that's what you do, you find out what we're afraid of and you use it against us." Tsuzuki echoed the words that Hisoka had told him with determination. "And I won't believe you." Tsuzuki quickly folded his hands into prayer position. "I beseech thee, twelve gods who protect me…"

"Wasted effort." Freddy spoke calmly, his arms folded over his chest.

Tsuzuki faltered slightly. "What do you mean?" He asked, letting his hands lower as he met the coal black eyes.

"Do you think it hasn't been tried?" Freddy asked grinning fierily. "I've dealt with your type before, and in case you've forgotten, you're dreaming numb-nuts!"

Tsuzuki's eyes narrowed. "My shikigami will answer me wherever I am."

Freddy's grin widened again. "Maybe. But where are you?"

It took a moment, but Tsuzuki's eyes widened and he let his hands fall to his sides. _I'm asleep in a hotel room._

"Actually, go ahead and call your guardian thingies, the others before you weren't able to reach them from the dream, but you're stronger than they were. Maybe if one of them shows up in that hotel room you'll finish off your friends, worse than you have already that is."

Tsuzuki glared, but held his silence.

"When will you understand? This is my world! I live in the dreams of the children, their fears feed me and their souls sustain me. When there are no more here to drain, I will hide myself in the subconscious mind of my last victim and let them take me to a new place. Every town has an Elm Street! (1) I am eternal!"

Tsuzuki yawned.

Freddy fell silent at the unexpected reaction to his tirade.

"Are you done?" Tsuzuki asked blandly.

Freddy growled low in his throat.

"I'm sorry, was that supposed to be scary?" Tsuzuki shrugged. "I guess I've heard it too many times, from Muraki and various demons, the 'I am so evil and will live forever' speech is getting kind of old." Tsuzuki began to move toward the scarred and twisted man, grim satisfaction twisting his lips as the abbreviation backed away. "You need fear and souls to sustain you? So if I give you neither will you disappear?"

Freddy continued to back away, a flash of fear quickly passing over his own features.

"And if this is my dream, I should be able to control what happens, this is not your world."

Here Freddy stopped and faced Tsuzuki, the feral smile quickly returning. "No, Mr Tsuzuki, this is not your dream, this is your partner's dream, and I am still in control here."

TBC…

(1) This line is straight from the movies, please forgive me for not remembering which one!


	18. Chapter 18

Praise and thanks to TrisakAminawn for betaing this chapter, and everything else I have sent her!

Warnings: Freddy takes a break from physical torture and moves on to the psychological

**Chapter 18**

Hisoka blinked and brought his hands to his aching head, moaning softly. Gingerly, he pulled himself to a sitting position and struggled to keep his balance. He ran a hand over his upper lip, feeling something dry and crusted flake away, he winced, before bringing his hands to his ears, feeling a similar crust there.

"What happened?" He mumbled to himself, even as he remembered the outpouring of negative emotion from Tsuzuki.

"Tsuzuki!" He looked up at the bed, and then staggered to his feet, eyes wide with alarm.

The bed was empty, neatly made as if it had never been slept in, except for a slight rumpling at the foot.

Fighting to keep his balance, Hisoka waited for the light-headedness to pass. He had to find out where Tsuzuki had gone, in fact… "Kannuki? Terazuma?" He couldn't feel anyone.

Hisoka let his gaze sweep over the silent room and almost fell over in shock. He couldn't feel anyone, but there was someone in the room with him. On a chair near the door, a slight figure sat wrapped in a blanket, head down so that only a spill of black hair was visible.

"Hello?" Hisoka tentatively approached the motionless stranger. There was something maddeningly familiar… "Do you know where the other people who were here went?" He slowly reached out to touch a shoulder when the head snapped back.

Correction, _her_ head snapped back.

"Hello, Azumi."

Hisoka recoiled in shock. "T-Tsubaki-hime!"

The slender, waif-like figure rose from the chair, the blanket spilling to the floor as she stood. "No, not Azumi, it's Hisoka isn't it?"

Hisoka's mouth worked, but no sound issued forth, _am I dreaming?_

"What? No greeting for the person you killed?"

Hisoka took a step back as Tsubaki started slowly advancing. He couldn't be dreaming, Terazuma had told him that Watari had given him a drug that would keep him from dreaming for at least a day.

"Tsubaki-hime, I, I…"

But this couldn't be real…

"Yes? You what?"

"I… I didn't…"

"You didn't what? Kill me? Yes you did, and I know why. It wasn't for all those noble reasons that you give yourself. You didn't kill me because I asked you to, or to put me out of my misery, not even because I was already dying. You killed me because you were afraid."

Hisoka stopped dead in his retreat, wide eyes fixated on the slender girl as she stepped right up to him, so close that he could feel her breath as she spoke. Her voice was barely a whisper, but he could hear every word as if she was screaming it to him.

"You were afraid of the Muraki in me. You didn't like confronting the Muraki in me."

Tsubaki reached out and touched his cheek. He flinched and closed his eyes.

"You were afraid to fight the Muraki in me."

A shiver ran down his spine; he couldn't deny the truth in her words.

"Knowing you would lose to the Muraki in me."

The same thoughts had run through his head as he'd cried in Tsuzuki's arms after the Queen Camilla had sunk.

"So you killed me."

The same words…

"To end it."

Haunted green eyes shot open, meeting accusing brown ones.

"You are a coward, and a murderer, and so much worse."

And he couldn't deny it…

**XXX**

Freddy grinned and pulled on the invisible strings of his puppet. The boy was once again on the playing field. The emotional outburst of his partner had for a brief time sent him into a deeper state of unconsciousness where even the nightmares couldn't reach him, but he was back now. He needed the boy's fear to fuel him, to keep him in control of the dream, and he needed the boy to reawaken his partner's fear.

Freddy's grin grew wider as he manipulated the stings. Tsuzuki had overcome his fear of him, but there were many things to fear.

And the fear for another person was enough to sustain him.

**XXX**

Tsuzuki moved forward slowly, his arms stretched out in front of him as he tried to find some way out of the pitch blackness. Freddy had disappeared after he had faced him down, but now he was stuck in the same place he'd been after being swallowed by the mirror.

He had to find Hisoka.

He was not afraid, he could not afford to be afraid, but he was _worried._

A small lilting sound caught his attention and he stopped moving, straining to hear.

"…five, six, get a crucifix…" A soft young voice sang out, and there was the 'ching ching' of a bell. "Seven, eight, better stay up late." The same little girl he'd met in the hallway was riding her tricycle, her pristine white dress and blonde hair almost glowing in the darkness.

"Hey! Wait!" Tsuzuki hurried after her.

The tricycle stopped moving, but the child didn't turn to face him.

"Are you lost?" He asked her.

"No. I'm not lost," she told him simply, still not moving. "I was found."

"You were found?"

"Um hm. My friends were skipping, and I was riding my bike, and he found us."

"He found you?" Tsuzuki asked frowning.

"I can help you," she said sweetly, and without waiting for a response she began peddling, the tricycle moving forward once again.

Tsuzuki watched her go, hesitating. Once again she began to sing.

"Nine, ten, never sleep again…"

Tsuzuki shuddered, but followed after her.

**XXX**

"Hisoka."

Hisoka flinched as Tsubaki said his name. Real or not, he didn't want to hear what she had to say. Closing his eyes he turned his head, tremors running through his frame. All he could feel was despair at hearing his own secret fears given voice.

"I'll tell you a secret."

He shook his head minutely; he didn't want to hear…

"The reason I chose you, the reason I thought I might be able to love you…"

All he wanted to do was to block out the sound of her voice.

"…was because I could feel the Muraki in you too."

Horrified jade green eyes swung to stare at her.

"I could feel that taint inside of you." Tsubaki reached out and cupped his face in both her hands.

"You ended it for me, and I can do the same for you."

Hisoka blinked.

"I can end it. No more fear, no more Muraki, no more wanting to be something you can never be. I can give you that freedom." Tsubaki's arms reached up, circling his neck, embracing him.

Hisoka closed his eyes again and his head fell forward until it landed on a slender shoulder. "No, I… Tsuzuki…"

"He loves you." The soft voice spoke softly in his ear, the words echoing in his head. "And you love him, but your love is like a poison, it causes hatred. Hasn't everyone you loved ended up hating you? With Muraki's taint inside of you and the disease of your love, all you could do would be to bring Tsuzuki down. That man would drown in the curse that is you."

**XXX**

Tsuzuki followed after the little girl as she peddled though the inky darkness. The tricycle seemed to move in slow motion and Tsuzuki had to fight the urge to run past her as some part of him screamed out that he had to _hurry._

Finally the peddling stopped the girl pointed ahead. "That's what you're looking for, but he won't let you in."

Standing behind her and squinting into the dark, Tsuzuki could make see a square of light in the distance. "We'll see about that!"

The girl giggled lightly. "He won't let you. Freddy's hungry."

"Come with me." Tsuzuki placed his hand on the girl's shoulder. "I can't leave you here…"

"Let go of me! It hurts!" The girl's voice was a monotone, and she finally turned to face Tsuzuki.

Tsuzuki took a step back in shock, his hand falling away from the child. Her face was grey and shrunken, dried out from age and decomposition, creating an obscene picture beneath the spill of blonde curls. Even as he watched the corpse started to collapse in on itself, sand spilling from the white dress to pool on the ground under the tricycle, mixing with the blonde hairs that fell from a quickly disintegrating scalp.

For several long moments Tsuzuki stared at the remains, pushing back his horror and fear. Finally he let out a hissing breath. "Freddy…" He growled, focusing on his anger. He looked up to where he had seen the light.

It was still there.

With a momentary flash of guilt that he could do nothing for the child, Tsuzuki rushed forward towards the light, soon running full out. Hisoka was there, he knew it.

"Hisoka!" He called out as he got closer to what he could see was a doorway.

"Let me tell you a secret."

Tsuzuki stopped dead in his tracks, almost overbalancing. The voice was familiar, but the words were whispered too softly for him to place it. He started moving again, slower this time, listening…

"The reason I chose you, the reason I thought I might be able to love you…"

Tsuzuki stopped outside the doorway. Looking in he could see two people standing face to face. One was a young woman in a sleeveless blue silk dress, he recognized her, Kakyouin Tsubaki. The other person was Hisoka.

"…was because I could feel the Muraki in you too."

Violet eyes widened with the same horror he could see in Hisoka's eyes. "Don't listen to her!" Tsuzuki yelled as he tried to rush into the room, but he bounced back from the doorway.

Tentatively he reached out his hand only to encounter something blocking his entrance. Tsuzuki threw himself against it, but he still couldn't enter the room.

Tsuzuki watched as Tsubaki wrapped her arms around Hisoka's neck, flinching at her words. He watched as Hisoka's head fell forward to her shoulder in despair and defeat.

He saw the malevolent smile that played across Tsubaki's mouth as she raised one hand behind Hisoka's back.

And the blades that slowly grew from her fingertips…

"HISOKA!"


	19. Chapter 19

Look! It stirs!

**Chapter 19**

"HISOKA!"

Green eyes shot open at the sound of his name being cried out in desperation and fear.

'Tsuzuki?' His mouth shaped the word, but no sound issued forth.

His head still rested against a slender shoulder and he could feel one delicate hand cupping the back of his neck. The other hand was…

The other hand was…

A flash of movement caught his attention and with the slightest turn of his head he caught sight of Tsuzuki standing in the open doorway. Violet eyes wide with near panic, hands pressed flat against nothing he could see, but obviously straining to get into the room.

Hisoka jerked his head up, but the restraining hand on the back of his neck prevented him raising it more than a few inches. It was enough for him to see a glimpse of the reflection in the mirror above the dresser.

Tsubaki's other hand was poised in the air behind his back. Very familiar razor sharp blades gleamed from each finger. Her face, what he could see of her profile, was twisted into an ugly snarl.

With a shout Hisoka pushed back from her, landing hard on his backside, his breath coming in sharp gasps.

Before his eyes, Tsubaki crumpled to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut as Freddy came dropping down through the ceiling to land solidly on the floor in front of Hisoka, his clawed glove aimed at the young shinigami.

In the same heartbeat, the force obstructing Tsuzuki gave way and the violet eyed man flew into the room without pause, interposing himself between his partner and Freddy's razor tipped glove. Tsuzuki wrapped his arms around the smaller body and rolled them both out of the way, gasping as the blades snagged his side, causing a brief flash of pain.

Getting quickly to his feet and pulling Hisoka up with him, Tsuzuki whirled toward the doorway only to find himself face to face with Freddy. Holding Hisoka tight against him, he pulled them both back out of the reach of Freddy's blades, looking around for another way out of the room.

"Hisoka!" He hissed urgently into the empath's ear. "Do you see the mirror there?" He pointed to the mirror above the dresser.

Slightly vague eyes followed the direction he pointed, then turned back to him. For a split second Tsuzuki wasn't sure Hisoka was actually registering what he was saying. Then the blonde head nodded and Tsuzuki felt a rush of relief.

"The mirror is a doorway, if we go through it, it will take us somewhere else, got it?"

Hisoka nodded again.

Tsuzuki crossed his fingers behind his back. He didn't know if what he had just told Hisoka was true, but Freddy had said this was Hisoka's nightmare, so if Hisoka believed…

Dodging yet another swipe from Freddy's blades, Tsuzuki pulled Hisoka tighter against him and hurtled toward the mirror. Still half expecting a collision, Tsuzuki threw one arm up to protect their heads as he launched them at the silvered glass, his other arm wrapped as tightly around Hisoka as he could hold.

There was feeling of passing into frigid water, over almost before it registered, and the two shinigami found themselves landing hard on a concrete floor.

**XXX**

"Ugh, he's heavy!" Watari stumbled, thrown off balance by the weight of the boy in his arms. "Terazuma would have been better suited for this; I'm not much of a weight-lifter."

"Neither is Hajime," said Wakaba from where she had materialized beside Watari. "He practices kendo and archery, not weight-lifting." She wrapped her arm more snuggly around Aya, who was leaning heavily against her side.

Watari stuck his head out of the ally way and looked around. "Looks good, the hospital's right across the street." He led the way, swaying slightly with each step.

Wakaba followed, leading Aya. It wasn't 'til they crossed the street that Aya pulled back. Wakaba looked at the girl who'd just pulled loose from her arm. "Aya? What's wrong?"

Aya stood trembling, looking up at the hospital. "We can't go there!" She took a step back, dark eyes wide and frightened. "We can't! They'll try to make us go to sleep! They'll have to put Tomo to sleep to sew him up, and then Freddy will get him!" Aya suddenly rushed forward, grabbing at Watari's sleeve and pulling the already overburdened scientist further off balance. "Let him go! You can't take us there! Please!"

Wakaba wrapped her arms around Aya, pulling the nearly hysterical girl away from Watari. "Aya! Get a hold of yourself! We wouldn't bring you here if it wasn't safe! And Tomo needs more help than we can give him!"

"But it's not safe!" Aya cried, trying to pull out of Wakaba's arms. "No place is safe!"

"It's safe Aya-chan." Watari's calmly spoken words made their way through the girl's budding panic, and she fell silent looking at him hopefully. "The drug I gave you to wake you up represses REM sleep. That's the level of sleep you have to enter in order to dream. No dreams, no Freddy. It's safe to sleep, and by the time the drug wears off, we'll have found a way to deal with Freddy Kruger."

Aya still looked frightened and indecisive, but she allowed Wakaba to once again wrap an arm around her and lead her after Watari and Tomo to the doors of the hospital.

The blood staining the coat over the young man's abdomen drew the immediate attention of the nursing staff, and the foursome found themselves surrounded within moments of entering the building.

"What happened?" Asked one straight-forward nurse, taking charge.

"We found them in an ally," Watari told her. "It looks like a mugging gone wrong. The girl was attacked and the boy was stabbed trying to defend her."

Wakaba leaned in close to Aya. "When they ask for a description, just describe Hajime to them, that way your description and Tomo's will match."

"Tomo knows?"

"He does now." Wakaba gestured to where Watari was placing the boy on a gurney, leaning close to give him instructions similar to the ones Aya had received.

Aya started as another nurse took her arm. "Come with me dear, we need to look you over and get you cleaned up. Do you hurt anywhere?" The nurse pulled and Wakaba's arm fell off her shoulder. Aya craned to look over her shoulder as she was gently pulled away.

"Wakaba?"

Wakaba smiled at her. "Go on, you'll be fine."

"Will I see you again?"

The odd-eyed girl's smile turned just a little sad, and she waved as she turned away, falling into step with the blonde-haired scientist.

"I hope not."

**XXX**

Tsuzuki got to his feel quickly, looking around, trying to figure out where the heck they had landed. They seemed to be in the centre of a maze of metal stairs and catwalks that stretched up as far as he could see and all around them. Steam hissed from rattling pipes, making the air musty and hard to see through. A fire burned in a nearby broiler, painting the mist with a flickering crimson light, and Tsuzuki shuttered at the effect.

A quick glance behind him showed him that Hisoka had pulled himself into a sitting position and wrapped his arms around his knees, his forehead resting on his knees. Tsuzuki ached to see his partner looking so vulnerable, but there was no time to comfort him, Tsuzuki doubted that the respite they had been given would last.

Moving carefully, he circled the broiler, looking for any signs of a threat. The haze of steam made it hard to see, and the flickering light played tricks on the eyes. The hiss of escaping steam and far away rattle of machinery would help cover anyone approaching. Tsuzuki frowned, they had to keep moving, they were sitting ducks in this place.

Tuning back he saw that the steam had thickened; he could no longer see Hisoka, except as a shadowy silhouette. He seemed to be reaching out to accept a hand from a much taller silhouette standing near him.

Confused, Tsuzuki quickly moved back the way he had come. "Hisoka?"

Tbc…

Rather abrupt ending, I know, I will do my best to get the next chapter out soon!


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

Hisoka rested his head on his knees, he felt exhausted. Everything the Tsubaki puppet had said to him played over and over in his mind. Knowing that it was Freddy trying to manipulate him didn't make the words she'd spoken any less true. The things she'd said were things Freddy had dredged out of his own mind, what he had thought and felt, and Freddy had used it against him.

He flinched as a shadow fell over him and peeked upwards to see Tsuzuki leaning over him.

"C'mon Hisoka, we have to go, it's not safe to stay here."

Hisoka nodded slightly at the softly spoken words and reached out to take the offered hand.

"Hisoka?"

As he was pulled to his feet he turned to see Tsuzuki step out of a haze of steam.

Eyes wide, Hisoka turned back to the Tsuzuki who was now releasing his hand and turning to see the new arrival. With a jolt Hisoka realized that he couldn't feel anything from the man; but he couldn't feel anything from the other Tsuzuki either. Deeply unnerved, Hisoka stepped back away from both men.

"Tsuzuki?"

The Tsuzuki who had helped him to his feet reached out. "Hisoka, we…"

"Don't touch him!" The second Tsuzuki cried out and tackled the first, sending both men crashing to the floor.

Hisoka quickly backed further away from the flailing limbs and angry curses. He reached out mentally to the two men, but still felt nothing. Either his recent experiences had over-taxed his empathy, or Freddy had somehow found a way to block it, and Hisoka knew that one of the men getting to their feet was Freddy, the problem was which one?

The two combatants pulled apart, glaring at each other, before turning back towards Hisoka. "Hisoka?" They both asked in tandem.

Hisoka's eyes darted from one to the other as he took another involuntary step backwards. "Tsuzuki?"

The Tsuzuki on the left gave him a concerned look. "You can't tell us apart, can you?"

Hisoka shook his head. "I can't feel you…"

"What did you do to him?" The Tsuzuki on the right asked, glaring at the Tsuzuki on the left.

"It's alright Hisoka," Tsuzuki on the left said, ignoring his double. "You should go, get out of here and find a way to wake up."

"No!" Cried the Tsuzuki on the right, violet eyes wide, "He wants to separate us, we're easier to hurt if we're not together!"

"No," the Tsuzuki on the left denied in a softer voice. "I want you to be safe, awake, where he can't touch you." He shot a glare at his double. "You should go, I can keep him here."

"I can't just leave you here like this!" Hisoka said in a pained voice, "he'll hurt you!"

"It hurts me more when he hurts _you,_" the Tsuzuki on the left informed him softly.

"Hisoka! No!" The Tsuzuki on the right interrupted frantically. "He just wants to get you alone again! We need each other, and we're stronger together!"

Hisoka shook his head in confusion, he needed to figure this out!

"Hisoka."

Hisoka looked up as the Tsuzuki on the right called his name again.

"I can prove to you who is the real Tsuzuki."

The Tsuzuki on the left turned towards him looking suspicious.

The Tsuzuki on the right grabbed his arm and shot a tensed hand at the other Tsuzuki's stomach. Drawing his hand back he clicked together the bloodied blades extending from each finger and smiled grimly at Hisoka. "He is!"

The real Tsuzuki fell to his knees breathing heavily; one hand braced on the ground, the other held over the gapping wound in his stomach, blood dripping from between his fingers.

"Tsuzuki!"

Tsuzuki looked up into wide green eyes locked on him; he could read the pain in the emerald depths, and fear. "'Soka, don't be afr…"

Freddy lashed out at him, blades digging deep into his shoulder, then pulling back and slashing across his throat, silencing him. Tsuzuki fell back under the onslaught.

A wordless cry of pain, fear and rage echoed around them as Hisoka threw himself bodily at Freddy, knocking him away from Tsuzuki. Although his slight weight wasn't enough to more than to cause Freddy to stumble backwards, the psychic blast that followed a fraction of a second after sent the scarred aberration flying.

Dropping to his knees beside Tsuzuki, Hisoka tied to simultaneously pull him up and stanch the flow of blood. Tsuzuki felt a ripple of amusement through the pain, in his distress Hisoka seemed unable to decide which wound warranted the most attention; the already healing wound in his abdomen, the large gash on his shoulder, or the slashes across his throat. The boy seemed determined to cover all of them at the same time, as well as to get Tsuzuki to his feet, but he didn't have quite enough hands and the effect was slightly comical.

Any and all traces of amusement soon died, however, as Tsuzuki took in his partner's face. Strain cut deep lines around his eyes and mouth, his skin was ashen, almost greyish. But it was the tears that traced their way down Hisoka's face, unnoticed or unheeded, that caused Tsuzuki's heart to constrict. Hisoka was close to breaking, physically and emotionally, he'd been stuck in the dream for too long

Gritting his teeth against a moan of pain, Tsuzuki pushed his way to his feet. Allowing Hisoka to shoulder a portion of his weight, he swayed unsteadily for a moment before recovering his balance. Immediately looking around to see where Freddy had gone, Tsuzuki was disconcerted to discover that their tormentor had vanished from sight. He swore and winced, raising his hand to his torn throat.

"Tsuzuki?"

He looked down at his partner and gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "S'o…" He coughed harshly, turned his head and spat out a mouthful of blood, grimacing as the taste lingered in his mouth. "S'okay 'Soka, let's just get out of here alright?"

**XXX**

Terazuma was pacing back and forth in agitation when Wakaba and Watari finally returned to the hotel room.

"What the Hell took you so long?" Terazuma growled, moving over to them.

"We stopped back in Meifu to collect some more of Watari's drug." Wakaba informed him.

Ignoring the irate shinigami, Watari moved quickly over to the bed. "Have there been any changes?" he asked, looking over the sleeping pair.

"No, noth…" Terazuma stopped short as Tsuzuki's body jerked in the bed and blood began to pour from his abdomen.

"Shit!" Watari immediately pressed his hands over the wounds. "Wakaba! Get those vials we grabbed!"

Her eyes locked on Tsuzuki, Wakaba reached into her pocket and fumbled with the small glass vials they had retrieved from Watari's lab. She let out a gasp as she saw long deep gashes appear on Tsuzuki's left shoulder, then across his throat. More blood flowed.

"Hurry!"

Wakaba pulled the vials out. "Here!"

Watari looked at her, one hand still on Tsuzuki's middle, the other now across his throat, he turned to Terazuma. "Can you fill the syringes?"

"How the fuck do I do that?"

Watari shot the man a dirty look. "Stick the needle in the top of the vile, hold it upside down and pull out the plunger!"

"What?"

"Goddamn it! It's not rocket science! Just do it!"

Terazuma clumsily followed the directions, managing to fill two syringes, brought them to Watari.

Watari grabbed one of the syringes out of Terazuma's hands and started yanking up the sleeve of Tsuzuki's jacket.

Hisoka sat up, blinked, and placed one hand against his cheek.

Watari, Terazuma, and Wakaba all stilled, looking at him. Watari blinked.

"Bon!"

**XXX**

Through narrow corridors lined with metal railings, pipes, the ever-present rattling and hiss of steam, Tsuzuki and Hisoka made their way through the dim and flickering maze. Though not as surreal as their trek through the dreamscape of Kogstu high, their sense of direction was quickly squewered. Dizzy, light-headed and suffering the effects of so much blood loss, Tsuzuki staggered, gradually allowing Hisoka to shoulder more and more of his weight. The youth didn't complain, but his gait became more halting as they continued forward.

Ahead of them light was flickering, and they headed towards it. They stepped out of the narrow pathways into a clear area.

Hisoka gasped and Tsuzuki frowned, to their left was the broiler, and directly ahead of them was the pool of blood that Tsuzuki had spilled on the ground.

"But how…" Tsuzuki trailed off, he was sure they had made no turns in their flight, how had they come full circle?

Hisoka slumped. "We're never going to get out of here."

Tsuzuki flinched at the hopelessness in that statement. "Yes we are!" he said, coming to a decision.

Hisoka looked up at him, his eyes wide at the edge of steel in his partner's voice.

"Hisoka…"

Tsuzuki was cut off by the shrill squeal of metal scraping against metal.

Hisoka jumped, looking around fearfully. "He's back!" He tightened his hold on Tsuzuki and tried to pull him back.

Taking a deep breath, Tsuzuki pulled away from Hisoka, standing under his own power.

"Tsuzuki, please, we have to go!"

Tsuzuki could hear the beginnings of panic in Hisoka's voice, and moved to stand in front of him. "Hisoka, I am really, really sorry."

"Tsuzuki? What…"

Tsuzuki raised his right hand and brought it down as hard as he could across Hisoka's face. "WAKE UP!"

Hisoka's head rocked with the force of the blow, and for a brief moment his eyes turned back to meet with Tsuzuki's, and then he was gone.


	21. Chapter 21

I am so sorry for the very long wait this chapter has been in coming, but the story has not been abandoned! Many thanks to everybody who has had the patience to stick with it; and not lynch me!

**Chapter 21**

Tsuzuki stood alone in the flickering red steam. Any fear he may have felt at finding himself alone in the nightmare was tempered by the relief of knowing that Hisoka was safe. Hisoka was awake, and Freddy could no longer harm him.

Guilt, on the other hand, was making it's presence clearly felt. It went against everything he was to strike someone he cared about. _But, _he thought with a quick flash of optimism, _I'll have the rest of forever to make it up to him after Freddy's been defeated._

Holding on to that hope, he pushed away the guilt and focused on his surroundings, trying to catch a glimpse of the hellish spawn somewhere in the eerily lighted haze. "Where are you Kruger?" He yelled.

There was a long drawn out screeeeech of metal on metal. It echoed and reverberated around him making it impossible to locate where it came from.

Tsuzuki's hands tightened into fists, and he spun around, wary of attacks from behind. He slowly backed up until his back was to broiler, somewhat protected by the size of the thing and the burning heat it emitted.

"Come out!" He shifted into a defensive position. "Come out and face me! There's no one else left, this is my dream now!"

The grating shriek of metal on metal made a shudder run down Tsuzuki's back, and he pulled put a fuda, holding it between his fingers in front of him. He braced himself, his back uncomfortably close to the scorching heat of the broiler behind him.

There was a sudden groan of abused metal, and Tsuzuki gasped as arms wrapped around his waist and pulled him backwards into the flames. The grate slamming shut, closing Tsuzuki in the inferno.

A single slip of paper fluttered softly to the floor as laughter echoed around the now empty space.

**XXX**

"Bon!"

Hisoka blinked. Watari was staring at him, a needle protruding from one hand. Wakaba and Terazuma stood across the room, their attention also riveted on him. He was sitting on a bed identical to the one in his hotel room. He held his hand to his cheek, his eyes impossibly wide, he could still feel the sting where Tsuzuki had hit him.

"Bon, are you okay?"

Looking up at Watari, Hisoka nodded slowly, not sure if he was telling the truth. He then looked down and saw his partner laying beside him and decided that he had just lied, he was far from okay.

Tsuzuki was soaked in blood, as was the mattress beneath him. His injuries were already mostly healed, but is was obvious the damage had been as bad as it had in the dream.

In the dream…

Hisoka flinched and looked back at Watari, examining him closely. "Is this real?" he asked, suddenly not trusting that he was really awake. He tried to reach out to Watari, to get a sense of the scientist's emotions, but he felt fuzzy, out of focus. Frustrated, he let his gaze stray across the room and was surprised to see Wakaba and Terazuma standing close behind him, he hadn't sensed their presence at all.

"Is what real?" Watari asked, confused.

Hisoka took a few deep breaths, trying to push back near panic, and flinched as he felt a hand touch his shoulder. The touch proved helpful though, and he was finally able to faintly feel Wakaba's familiar presence through the contact as she spoke.

"You're awake Hisoka-kun, this isn't a dream."

Hisoka nodded in acknowledgement, not really convinced, then tilted his head. "What's burning?"

All four shinigami turned towards Tsuzuki in tome to see a greyish, wispy smoke drifting up from his clothes just before they burst into flames.

_I have to be dreaming__… _Hisoka grabbed the blanket and yanked at it. He used what he could pull free to beat at the flames.

_I have to be dreaming__… _"Wake him up!" he shrieked at Watari. "Now!"

_I have to be dreaming! _He'd had this nightmare before, Tsuzuki was burning! _Please let me be dreaming!_

Watari thrust his hands into the flames to grab Tsuzuki's arm and plunged the needle into it, depressing the contents quickly, before the syringe was destroyed by the consuming heat.

"Here!" Terazuma was standing in front of an open closet from which he'd pulled an armful of blankets. In three long strides he'd crossed to the bed and flung the blankets over Tsuzuki, and Watari and Hisoka pushed down on them, trying to smother the fire.

Suddenly the blankets flew out, forcing Watari away and knocking Hisoka off the bed. The flames flared to a new height, and then died. The smell of charred cloth and skin hung heavily in the small room. Hisoka pulled himself to his feet as quickly as he was able, choking slightly on the odour.

The blankets had settled back on the bed and the body lying there. Hisoka grabbed the blankets and pulled them back.

Tsuzuki lay on his back, his eyes open and blinking at the ceiling. His trench coat was little more than ash, and large holes had burned through his clothing revealing raw and blistered skin. He shifted, and then groaned. "Ouch."

"Tsuzuki…" Hisoka breathed as his legs failed him and he let himself sink down beside the bed. It was going to be okay, Tsuzuki was awake, he was awake, and he was _never_ going to sleep again… _Please let me be awake…_

Watari moved back to the side of the bed and began to poke and prod at Tsuzuki gently, his own hands shiny and red, but healing quickly. "Can you get up?" he asked Tsuzuki while looking over the worst of the burns. "The bed's a bit of a mess, and we should get you back to Meifu." He leaned closer, then leaned back, waving his hand in front of his nose. "You smell like barbeque!" he said accusingly.

Tsuzuki chuckled weakly. "Sorry," he rasped. Gingerly he pulled himself into a sitting position with Watari's help. He wobbled for a moment and then steadied, looking around. "'Soka?"

Wakaba gestured helpfully to the floor in front of her, and Tsuzuki leaned over to see the blonde head leaning against the side of the bed. "'Soka, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," came the nearly inaudible reply. Tsuzuki recognized it as a lie and evasion, but didn't want to press the issue right there in front of everyone.

He leaned farther across the bed and reached down to touch Hisoka's shoulder, but before he could make contact, a hand grabbed his wrist and pulled hard. Tsuzuki cried out as he was pulled off the bed, slowly healing burns blazing in pain as he hit the floor. Laying flat out, facing the bed, steel blades flashing towards his eyes…

Tsuzuki scrambled back, only narrowly avoiding the razor sharp claws. Beady black eyes glared at him maliciously from a twisted visage in the shadows underneath the bed.

"Tsuzuki? Wha…"

Tsuzuki grabbed Hisoka and yanked him away from the bed as Freddy crab walked out of the narrow space, his movements jerky, quick and spider-like. Hisoka's eyes widened and he skittered back with Tsuzuki.

Wakaba let out a shriek and Terazuma shouted. "What the fuck is that?!"

"What is what?" Watari asked loudly, moving forward. He come to an abrupt stop as Freddy unfolded into an upright stance, each movement seeming convoluted and wrong, limbs bending in unnatural angles.

Wakaba whimpered slightly and took a step back. Terazuma moved to place himself in front of her. Tsuzuki pulled Hisoka tightly against him, barely wincing at the pressure on his injuries. Watari moved a step closer wanting a better look at the man standing there, brown slacks, a dirty red and green striped sweater, the glove on his right hand heavy with the steel blades that extended inches beyond his fingertips. A dirty and battered fedora rested over a face so distorted by burns, scars and rot that it was barely recognizable as human.

And the black eyes glittered with hatred as he glared at Tsuzuki.


	22. Chapter 22

First of all… Surprise! It's still going, just like the energizer bunny. (I don't own him either.)

Secondly; I am working with the theory that Terazuma can touch Wakaba, without transforming, as long as; 1) he avoids skin contact. 2) he is the one initiating the contact. Honestly, how could you partner with someone you couldn't touch? I can't see how it could work.

So, without any further ado

**Chapter 22**

Tsuzuki could feel Hisoka trembling in his arms and pulled him tighter against him, the burns covering his body screaming in protest. Freddy loomed over them, the blades of his deadly glove glinting in the florescent lights of the hotel room.

"You cant get away that easily!" Freddy hissed as the blades began their decent.

BANG!

The crack of gunfire echoed deafeningly around the small room, and Freddy staggered from the impact of the bullet.

All eyes turned to Terazuma, who held his gun before him in a two-handed shooters stance.

"You hurt Wakaba!"

BANG!

"You hurt the kid!"

BANG!

"You hurt the great idiot over there!"

BANG!

"And you're ugly!"

BANG!

Each impact threw Freddy back until he hit the wall and collapsed in an ungainly heap. The shinigami stared at the crumpled form for a long moment before Watari circled the bed and moved to inspect the motionless lump.

"No, he's not… don't…" Hisoka's stressed whisper was almost too quiet to for Tsuzuki to hear; almost.

"Watari! STOP!"

Watari paused at the warning and turned towards Tsuzuki. Freddy's head snapped up, a wide grin showing two rows of rotting filth incrusted teeth. The movement caused Watari to whip his attention back to the threat sprawled in front of him, flinching at the macabre expression. Before he could pull back, Freddy's hand snapped up and closed around Watari's wrist. Watari let out an involuntary yell. The hand that gripped him was moulted black, as if it were in the later stages of decomposition. He flashed a quick glance down at Freddy's other hand. What little he could see of it outside of the glove, while not normal, didn't come anywhere close to that state of decay.

A painful prickling began to irritate his wrist and Watari let out a second shout as he realized that the skin under Freddy's hand was beginning to take on the same dark and moulted hues, spreading up his arm and down his hand.

Watari pulled futilely against Freddy's grip, but the aberration clung tight. The pressure of hands on his shoulders startled Watari, and he felt himself being pulled back. He felt his wrist wrench free as he fell back on Tsuzuki, who cried out as Watari's weight landed on him.

Watari flinched as he felt his wrist grasped a second time, but the hands this time were smaller, warmer, and he looked up to see Hisoka simultaneously staring at his wrist while trying to pull him off Tsuzuki and away from Freddy.

As the three men scrambled to get away from the waking nightmare, Freddy got awkwardly to his feet. Wincing, he paused to study the bullet holes in his chest. He grimaced, and then dug two of the blades into one of the holes and retracted a bullet.

"Huh," he rasped "I forgot reality bites after all!" He dropped the pullet to the floor and turned a hateful and accusatory glare towards Terazuma, only to find himself looking down the bore of the gun.

"Got'cha!" Terazuma started to squeeze the trigger.

With inhuman speed, Freddy launched himself out of the line of fire. In a split second he had crossed the room and with a shattering of glass jumped through a window and out into the night.

"After him!" Wakaba cried, and suiting action to words, she ran across the room, and placing a hand on the ruined windowsill, she vaulted out the window after Freddy.

"Kannuki! Wait!" Terazuma sped after his partner, pausing briefly with one foot on the sill to look back. "You guys okay?"

"We're fine, we'll catch up with you." Tsuzuki assured him as be got painfully to his feet. "Go get 'em Fido."

Terazuma snarled at him and jumped out the window.

**XXX**

Wakaba ran, her lungs burning, her muscles aching as she raced through the nearly empty street. She could see Freddy flitting through the shadows ahead of her. She wished she could fly, but she couldn't take a chance of anyone seeing her out a nearby window. She was also aware of the pounding of running footsteps a ways behind her. She knew that it was Terazuma, and she knew that he wouldn't be catching up to her. He may be in good shape, but those cigarettes he like to smoke impaired his ability to run.

Wakaba cursed under her breath when Freddy darted off the street, and ducked through a wrought iron gate. She put on a spurt of speed and followed, pulling to a halt when she realized that Freddy had disappeared. Looking around, she saw that she was in a park. There was a small playground ahead to her right, and a paved path lit by lamps every few meters. The path led off into a moderately wooded area, but Freddy was nowhere to be seen.

She cursed again, using a word that would make Mr. Police Detective blush if he knew she knew it, and took two cautious steps forward.

A weight slammed into her back and she wheezed as she hit the ground, the wind knocked from her lungs. The lack of air kept her from screaming as four razor sharp blades pierced her shoulder.

"Kannuki!"

The weight on her back shifted as Terazuma called out to her. The blades withdrew from her flesh, but a putrid odour filled her nose as Freddy leaned in close and cackled. "I'll get you my pretty…"

She could see through the corner of her eye as his head inclined towards a quickly approaching Terazuma.

"…and your little dog too!"

Terazuma's footsteps slowed as he reached her, and Wakaba pushed herself up form the ground. She flashed him a grateful look as he caught her beneath the elbow to help her up.

"Where did he go?" she asked, looking around.

"I didn't see." Terazuma growled, frustrated. "He shot off into the shadows and I lost sight of him."

"We should split up." Wakaba muttered, wincing an the skin on her shoulder slowly knitted back together.

Terazuma frowned at her. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Wakaba frowned right back at him. "We can't let that bastard get away!"

Terazuma's lips twitched in amusement at her language. "Okay then, stay in earshot, and take care of yourself."

"You too." Wakaba gave him a push away from her. "Get going!"

"Yes Ma'am." Terazuma saluted and took off at a light jog.

Wakaba watched after him for a second before heading off in the opposite direction. She moved through the trees, staying off the path where she would be an open and obvious target. Keeping her tread as stealthy as possible, she moved cautiously, a fuda gripped between her fingers, wary of another attack.

Ten minutes passed before she spotted her quarry in the branches of a tree beside the lit path. He must have been waiting for her, because when he saw her he waved, ginning broadly. Wakaba felt her muscles clench in horror at that expression. She raised her fuda defensively, even though she was still too far away to use it, her eyes locked with Freddy's mocking gaze. Then Freddy pointed down, his motions exaggerated.

Not wanting to take her eyes off him, Wakaba reluctantly looked in the direction he indicated, and gasped.

A young girl, maybe 16 or 17 was walking along the path, her shoulder-length black hair swaying with each step. She had a large purse hooked over one shoulder, and her arms were full of text books.

And she was only a few steps away from where Freddy lay in wait.

"Stop!" Wakaba screamed, starting to move forward, "Run!"

The girl staggered to a stop when she heard Wakaba, freezing in place and clenching her books to her chest, clearly afraid. Unfortunately, she froze almost directly below Freddy.

"Run!" Wakaba screamed again, but before the girl could turn to follow the order, a hand shot down from the tree and grabbed a hand full of her hair, lifting her into the air. The girls' books and purse fell to the ground and she kicked and screamed, trying to pull herself free.

Freddy turned his head to lock gazes with Wakaba once again, the manic grin still in place.

"Put her down!" Wakaba yelled as she ran towards the tree.

"Put her down?" Freddy blinked, then looked down at the flailing girl. "If you're sure." Freddy's gloved hand flashed twice, and Wakaba skidded to a stand still as the girl's scream turned into a gurgle.

The body fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Freddy lifted the head until it was eye level with his own, regarding it with mock solemnity. "Oh," he turned back to Wakaba, "you meant all of her." The grin returned as he tossed the head out of the tree. "Here, catch!"

Wakaba watched horrified as the head struck the ground, bounced, and rolled to a stop at her feet. She jumped back feeling bile rise in the back of her throat.

"Kannuki? What happened?"

Wakaba looked up from the decapitated head to see Terazuma rushing up from the same direction the girl had come. She swallowed heavily. "Look out!"

Her voice wasn't loud, shock had rendered her almost speechless, but her warning coupled with the body laying in the path ahead of him was enough to make Terazuma pause.

As Terazuma paused, Freddy launched himself from the tree.

Sensing the danger before he could see it, Terazuma's shikigami broke free, and Wakaba watched as Freddy baked mid-air, finding the man he'd been about to attack had suddenly become a giant black winged lion.

KokuShunGei roared as Freddy hit, his blades scoring a deep furrow down the Shikigami's foreleg. There was a flash, another roar, and a blast that sent Freddy flying over the trees.

Wakaba watched Freddy disappear from sight, and then moved to KokuShunGei's side, petting the heavy fur. "I guess Krueger-san found my 'little dog' a bit too much to handle." She looked up at her partner's shikigami, a bitter smile twisting her lips. "C'mon Toto, let's get him…"


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Watari grimaced; the painful prickle in his wrist was growing worse. At first the sensation had reminded him of stinging bees, but now those bees had gotten bigger, meaner, and more poisonous with barbed stingers a foot long each. But even worse than that was the feeling of the malignancy spreading, he could still feel it _trying _to spread, if not for Hisoka it _would _be spreading. Hisoka gripped his arm above and below the discoloured flesh, the teen's natural healing abilities supplementing his shinigami healing.

Finally the stabbing pain began to ease, only to be replaced burning itch that was almost worse than what had been before. His whole body spasmed involuntarily, nearly pulling his arm from Hisoka's grip. His other hand twitched; he wanted to scratch the affected area, claw at it, through the skin to get that itch that went down to bone.

"Grab him," Hisoka demanded, sounding strained.

Watari wanted to cry with frustration as he felt Tsuzuki catch his free arm before it could touch the darkened flesh, and held it firmly to his side.

"Hang on Watari," Tsuzuki encouraged quietly. "Just hang on for a few more minutes."

A few minutes turned out to be a small stretch of eternity before the itch finally began to recede, and the mottled discolouration began to disappear from his skin, leaving it creamy pale as it had been before.

Hisoka let out a sigh of relief and let go of Watari's arm, he fell back, almost seeming to fold in on himself. His eyes drifted closed.

"Hisoka?" Tsuzuki asked worriedly, freeing Watari's other arm and moving to his partner. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Hisoka mumbled, not opening his eyes. "Fine."

Amber eyes met violet, then flicked over the youngest shinigami appraisingly. Hisoka looked drained; his skin had taken on an unhealthy, greyish cast and there were signs of stress and fatigue in his face. On top of everything Freddy had put him through in the dream, he had just expended a great deal of energy helping Watari heal, the kid had to be running on empty.

Then the green eyes blinked open, and the expression there was as steady and determined as ever.

"We have to go. Wakaba and Terazuma won't be able to take care of Freddy on their own," Hisoka said as he got to his feet. He staggered slightly and Tsuzuki was at his side instantly, steadying him.

"Maybe you should wait here," he suggested.

Hisoka glared at him. "No."

"You need to recover your…"

"I'll recover after Freddy is dealt with."

Tsuzuki looked at Watari for help. Watari shrugged. "Sorry, I agree with Bon. How do you expect him to sleep again if he doesn't see for himself that this Freddy guy is gone for good?"

**XXX**

Wakaba walked silently along beside KokuShunGei, her hand resting against his warm side. It amazed her how the large shikigami could travel without making a single noise, even with his nose to the ground paying little to no attention to where he was going. It was up to Wakaba to pay attention to their surroundings and keep them from being seen by stray mortals; not that was any real difficulty, with his black fur against the night, even she would have a problem finding him again if she lost track of him. The winged lion was all but invisible in the darkness. It was KokuShunGei's job to find Krueger, all they had to do was find the place Freddy had landed and the shikigami would be able to sniff him out.

The sound of quickly approaching footsteps made her tense momentarily, but when KokuShunGei didn't react, she relaxed.

So she was unsurprised when Tsuzuki, Hisoka and Watari stepped out of the shadows and joined her at KokuShunGei's side. A frown touched her lips as she got a good look at the three of them. All of them looked like they had gone through the proverbial wringer. Watari looked shaken, Tsuzuki looked tired and singed, and Hisoka looked half dead and ready to drop at any moment.

The observations were registered and dismissed in an instant, and the frown made way for a rueful smile. All in all, Wakaba was sure she looked no better than the others, and immediately had to repress the urge to so something with her hair. However she looked, she was positive her hair had become a tangled mess around her head.

Watari twitched, then reached out to gently touch a shiny patch of fur on KokuShunGei's shoulder. The lion growled lowly at the contact, and Watari pulled back his hand, examining the wetness on his fingers. "What happened to him?" the mechanical engineer cum doctor asked as a nearby street lamp revealed the red tint of the moisture.

"It was raining psychopaths," Wakaba told him with a half shrug.

KokuShunGei and Hisoka stopped moving at the same time. KokuShunGei's head snapped up and Hisoka shivered.

"He's there, ahead," Wakaba said, correctly interpreting her partner's reaction.

Tsuzuki nodded, doing like-wise. He moved closer to Hisoka protectively, and got an elbow in the ribs for the effort.

KokuShunGei snorted and opened up his mouth and let out a jet of flames that set the night on fire. The four shinigami jumped into action, spreading out from the shikigami, and surrounding the blaze as KokuShunGei fed the flames. As soon as everyone was in position, KokuShunGei closed his mouth and the flames began to recede, burning away any concealing cover. To his right, Wakaba stood, a fuda held ready between her fingers. Further on was Tsuzuki, who stood similarly prepared. Next was Hisoka, standing rather closer to Tsuzuki, but still with enough distance between them to avoid giving Freddy an opening to escape through. Watari stood between Hisoka and KokuShunGei's left side, amber eyes focused intently on the fire which was shrinking in on itself.

The agents of Enma-cho closed in the circle as the blaze died down to reveal a dark shape crouched in the hear of the flames, arms protectively around itself to ward off the burning heat.

As the flames died out completely, Watari threw something into the air, and there was a burst of light above them. Like a flare, the light shone down on the group, but not carrying far into the trees of the park.

Freddy straightened, his malevolent black eyes touching on each of them in turn. A nasty grin turned up his lips as his gaze moved over Hisoka, Tsuzuki and Wakaba. He laughed, and the sound was like broken glass in the mind, and the trio who had dreamed jerked back in reaction. Freddy stood straighter, seemed almost to _grow _in response, he took a threatening step forward, jeering. "Your fears are mine, your secrets are mine, even your souls belong to me."

"No."

Every eye turned to Hisoka, but his gaze stayed unwaveringly on the thing from a nightmare. "You have no power over us, nothing of us, save what we gave you."

Freddy barred his rotting teeth at the youngest shinigami, crouching slightly as if preparing to attack.

"And we take it back; now."

At the words, both Wakaba and Tsuzuki stood straighter, and Wakaba felt a surge of pride for her colleague. She could see that Tsuzuki felt the same, it was there in his face for anyone to see.

Freddy looked furious, feral, and somehow diminished. He all but hissed at Hisoka, "you don't know when to roll over and die, and you won't be the one to suffer for it!"

Wakaba saw Hisoka flinch at Freddy's accusation, and she thought she saw the beady black eyes flick towards Tsuzuki, but before she could make sense of it, Freddy moved to launch himself at Hisoka.

Wakaba's hand flicked out, and Tsuzuki's moved in syncopation. The two fudas they had held both hit Freddy and he froze in place.

Freddy growled as he fought the paralyzing jitsu. "What are you doing?" The circle closed in around him, with Tsuzuki and Wakaba taking a place directly in front of him.

"We're doing what we always do with restless spirits. We're going to send you on to judgement." Tsuzuki informed him.

"We're shinigami, this is our job," Wakaba concluded.

"You can't get rid of me!" Freddy yelled.

Tsuzuki stared at him for a long moment, then his lips turned up in a tight smile. "We can, and we will."

"Wait."

Once again all eyes turned to Hisoka. The teen pushed in between Tsuzuki and Wakaba, directly in front of Freddy. He raised a hand and with only a momentary hesitation, placed it on Freddy's chest. His face twisted in pain and disgust, and his free hand groped blindly, finding and latching onto Tsuzuki's wrist.

Wakaba could almost see the energy moving between them as Hisoka drew on his partners strength to supplement his own failing reserves… And then…

And then…

Freddy howled. The scared abomination twisted and writhed under Hisoka's hand. His skin seemed to bubble, and his body jerked and spasmed into strange contortions. A small globe of pure white light tore free of him and began to drift away.

Then another; and another, almost a dozen in all.

Souls.

Tsuzuki looked as horrified as Wakaba felt, at the thought of those souls being trapped by such corruption and depravity; it was monstrous.

With the loss of the souls that sustained him, Freddy was little more than a heap on the ground.

So was Hisoka, he had collapsed as the last brilliant sphere departed. The empath was so exhausted that he didn't react as Freddy's razor tipped glove moved, slashing towards him; not as inhumanly fast as it had moved earlier, but still to fast for Tsuzuki or Wakaba to interfere.

The clawed glove, the hand within it, and a good portion of the arm they were attached to, disappeared beneath KokuShunGei's heavy foot before reaching their target.

KokuShunGei let out a yelp as the blades cut his paw, and he pulled away, but by that time Watari had swept in and pulled Hisoka back out of the way.

The priestess and the oldest of the shinigami folded their hands in unison and began to chant.

A minute later, Freddy Krueger was gone.


End file.
